Gender inequality in sports leadership positions is reflected in both statistics and experiences of gender-based discrimination or inappropriate behaviour. According to the latest statistics (Equality in sports and physical activity in Finland 2021, Lehtonen et al. 2022), 86% of the chairpersons of sports and physical activity promoting organisations and 65% of the chief operating officers are men.
Marjukka Mikkonen’s doctoral thesis in the field of Administrative Sciences examines gender equality in leadership positions in sport. Mikkonen studies especially why gender inequality appears to be such a persistent phenomenon in sport leadership positions and how to promote gender equality in these positions.
The study reinforced the notion that gender inequality is a multi-level problem that has often merged into cultures and social structures.
“Promoting equality is challenging precisely because of this dynamic multi-layered nature. It appeared from the material that many measures have been taken in Finland to promote gender equality. However, the effectiveness of the measures has remained rather limited, considering for example, the number of women in leadership positions, especially over the past decade,” Mikkonen says.
The study suggests that actions to promote gender equality are often aimed either at 'correcting' women, i.e. with the aim of adapting or preparing women to fit into existing sports structures, for example, through further training, or at increasing the number of women in individual organisations or organisational groups.
“I would argue that promoting gender equality in leadership positions in sport requires collective actions on multiple levels by different actors that extend beyond individual organisations, sports management and even the sports sector,” Mikkonen continues.
More research is needed on local features
Although the field of gender and sport leadership is well established, much of the research has been conducted in Anglo-Saxon countries, especially in North America. However, Mikkonen underlines the importance of research conducted in the Finnish context on gender equality issues. The results of the dissertation created an image of gender (in)equality as a contextual phenomenon, i.e. a phenomenon dependent on its environment, tied to time and place. Although the findings supported previous research on the abstract level, for example, on the multilevel nature of gender (in)equality, individual factors vary from country to country, and the results of the dissertation contributed to challenge old theoretical notions.
“If we do not have information on the factors that prevent equality from being realised in the Finnish context, measures to promote equality, for example, can focus on correcting wrong things,” Mikkonen explains.
Mikkonen’s dissertation Understanding Gender (In)Equality in Leadership Positions in Sport: a Multilevel Perspective, in which Mikkonen studies gender equality and its promotion from different perspectives, using different methodological approaches, consists of four research articles and an introductory essay.
Mikkonen, originally from Iisalmi, lives in Tampere, Finland, and works as a Researcher at the Faculty of Management and Business at Tampere University.
Dissertation on Friday 25 August 2023
The doctoral dissertation of M.Sc. (Admin.) Marjukka Mikkonen in the field of Administrative Sciences titled Understanding Gender (In)Equality in Leadership Positions in Sport: a Multilevel Perspective, will be publicly examined at the Faculty of Management and Business at Tampere University at 12 o’clock on Friday 25 August 2023, in the Paavo Koli Auditorium of the Pinni A building (Kanslerinrinne 1, Tampere). The Opponent will be Professor Janne Tienari from Hanken. The Custos will be Professor Jari Stenvall from the Faculty of Management and Business.
The doctoral dissertation is available online.
The public defence can be followed via remote connection.
@marjukkamikkone
Photo: Jonne Renvall/Tampere University