INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC ACADEMY 7th JOINT - IOA

“WIND OF CHANGE IN THE ROUND TABLE”:
THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN DECISION MAKING POSITION
IN SPORT ORGANIZATIONS
Introduction
Ms Moran BETZER-TAYAR (ISR)
The discourse of our perspectives on gender similarities and
differences has developed over many centuries. It changed in an
historical context and has established itself over the course of time as
a distinct division of human kind into ‘man’ and ‘woman’. By
referring to biological differences, social facts were created and
gender hierarchy established (Kugelmann, 2002).
Recent research and theorizing has drawn attention to the
masculine organizational culture as a likely explanation for the
persistence of the glass ceiling phenomenon (Cassell & Walsh, 1997).
Although a male-dominated culture has for a long time been referred
to in the discourse on institutional barriers for women’s careers, it is
only recently that the characteristics and consequences of
organizational culture have been systematically described and
investigated. The central conclusion drawn from that is that
organizations are based on norms and beliefs, which are more
frequently adhered to by men than by women.
Nevertheless, masculine cultures, or substructures, consist of
hidden assumptions, tacit norms and organizational practices that
promote forms of communication, views of self, approaches to
conflict, images of leadership, organizational values, definitions of
success and of good management, which are an stereotypically
masculine.
In recent years, we have seen tremendous changes the social
position of women, and in gender relations in a more general context.
Significant change has also occurred in women’s sport and women’s
experiences of sport, where barriers to women’s participation have
weakened.
However, women’s sport continues to be fraught with conflict; not
only in terms of an ideological struggle related to the meaning of
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