The influence of gendered emotional relations on gender equality in sport governance

Abstract

The aim of this article is to investigate the influence of gendered emotional relations on gender equality in the governance of Australian sport organizations. Theoretically the study draws on the concept of a gender regime, a pattern of gender relations characterized by four interwoven dimensions of social life: production, power, emotions, and symbolism. This article reports on two case studies: sport boards C and E. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the two CEOs and nine directors of two Australian national sport organizations, sport C and sport E. Sport board C exhibited a gender regime of masculine hegemony in transition while sport board E had a regime of gender mainstreaming in progress. Supportive emotional relations between directors offered positive prospects for gender equality in the governance of sport organizations; however, they needed to operate in conjunction with other gender dimensions.