In many countries around the world the participation rate of women being active in sport is steadily increasing. However, this trend cannot be found with regard to the number of women in leadership positions in sport organisations. A recent study carried out by the International Olympic Committee and the University of Loughborough has provided data that clearly indicate a discrepancy between participation rates and leadership positions of women.

In Germany more than 50% of the population are practising sport in its broadest sense and approx. 40% are members of a sport club. Organised sport represents the largest segment of German organisations and is an important area of society which draws a lot of public attention and receives considerable public funding from Federal and State governments. To date, 10.4 million girls and women are members of the German Sport Confederation which in total has over 27 million members in 2005. In 1950 only 10% of the members were female, this percentage increased over the past 50 years to almost 40% today. The number of women in leadership positions, however, has not risen to the same extent. In 25 of the 55 national sport federations there are no women in leadership positions at all, and only 2 state sport federation and two of the national sport federations are led by women.
Therefore, a research project was initiated in 2001 to address this issue and to raise a number of questions in this context:

This project was led by Prof. Dr. Gudrun Doll-Tepper (Freie Universität Berlin) and Prof. Dr. Dr. Gertrud Pfister (University of Copenhagen) and was funded by the Federal Ministry for Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. It had two parts: a scientific part at the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, and a practical part in cooperation with the German Sport Confederation. Seven empirical studies were carried out including:

It is important to highlight the close cooperation between the researchers and the practitioners which led to innovative forms of recruitment and empowerment of women, e.g. via mentoring and coaching initiatives.
Here are some selected results of the various surveys:

There are highly significant differences between men and women in leadership positions in German sport organisations with regard to their family situation: 87% of the men are married, only 57% of the women are married. 20% of the women are single, whereas only 6% of the men are single. Many of the partners of female leaders are also active in voluntary work and support their wives’ commitment.

A major issue for women to take up leadership positions was identified: the different combination of work, volunteer work and family. In 90% of the men interviewed their wives are responsible for taking care of the children, whereas only 17% of the women interviewed indicate that their husbands are active in this kind of family life.

An interesting result was found regarding the position in professional life of the interviewers: almost all of them hold high positions, the majority of women in educational professions, the majority of men in business and administration. Differences were also identified as far as the portfolio of men and women were concerned: In most cases where women hold leadership positions it is in the areas such as “girls, women and family”, almost no woman can be found in areas such as “media and public relations”, and “environment”, however, already 9% of the women in leadership positions are responsible for “legal issues, finances, marketing and sponsoring”.

In summary, it was found that a certain “type” of woman makes it to the top of a sport organisation; these are women who adapt successfully to the current sport structures. Others never start such a career or give up in frustration. In order to offer equal opportunities for both men and women it is recommended to initiate and implement changes in the current structures; e.g. by offering women-friendly meeting times, so that they can combine volunteer work in sport and responsibilities in family life. It is also recommended to shorten the terms of office, so that women can commit themselves more easily to take over leadership positions.
Finally, it is recommended to make the strategy of gender mainstreaming better known amongst all involved in sport organisations and then base all future decisions on that strategy.

Further details can be found in the following publications: