Women in decision-making positions in French sports federations: still a long way to go

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Written by Annabelle Caprais*

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The underrepresentation of women in sport leadership positions is a worldwide issue. Scientific literature, as well as many generations of feminist activists, have now well documented this phenomenon. In Poland, Spain, The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Germany, USA, Canada, and international sports organizations (Cervin & Nicolas, 2019; Schoch & Clausen, 2019) the figure is the same: when it comes to leadership and decision-making positions, women disappear from the picture. 

As France is no exception, deputies are currently debating on a new law called: “for the democratisation of sport”. As its title suggests, this new regulation aims to ensure a larger participation of French citizens in sports activities. Among other measures, the text plans to impose gender parity in executive boards of some national sports federations (NSFs).

This is not the first time that French government legislates sports governing bodies. In 2014, the law for true equality between women and men had already introduced two types of gender quotas on the executive boards of national sports federations. Quotas became a widespread tool to fight underrepresentation of women in leadership positions. Considered as a “fast-track” to equal representation for women, they are now flourishing all over the world (Dahlerup & Freidenvall, 2005) and in an increasing number of domains: parliamentary elections, political parties, executive boards of companies, as well as executive boards of NSFs. 

What can we learn from these historical developments and the introduction of quotas in NSFs?

There is much to say about the introduction of gender quotas in NSFs, but we will only concentrate on three points here.  

First, as planned, quotas seem to have acted as a “fast track” to equal representation, as the number of women on executive boards has increased faster than it had in the previous decade. From a small minority – about 26% in 2013 – women now represent 40% in the executive board of French Olympic federations (Caprais, 2020). However, although this progression is significant, we must draw attention to the fact that it has been slowed down by a “threshold effect”. The threshold effect describes the fact that gender quotas were considered as a maximum, and not as minimum (as the theory would prescribe). Indeed, a case-by-case analysis reveals that most NSFs strictly respected the number of seats reserved for women. Rather than the lack of female candidates, informal recruitment processes and power struggles are responsible for this situation (Caprais et al., 2020). Electoral competition is limited and selection occurs before election day. 

Then, it is important to note that none of the NSFs that did not respect the law were sanctioned, raising questions regarding the effectiveness of the measure in the future. If NSFs are not punished, why would they change their behaviour?  

Finally, the analysis shows that if gender quotas have an impact on the number of women elected, they are not sufficient to achieve equal participation of men and women in decision-making processes. This is one of the limits of focusing only on quantitative figures. For instance, the glass ceiling is still highly visible. Although women participate in governing bodies of Olympic federations in greater numbers than ever before, only two of them are presidents (over 36 Olympic NSFs): Nathalie Péchalat at the Ice sports federation and Isabelle Jouin at the Hockey federation. 

New challenges to face

Matching the profile of top positions in sports organizations involves networking, connivance with those in key positions, holding multiple powerful positions in the organisational structure, working long and unsociable hours and being mobile and available on many occasions. Gender quotas reduce opportunities for men to engage in homosocial reproduction and hidden discrimination, but the recruitment logic does not change, remaining highly selective and producing new forms of inequality. 

To summarize, quotas do not constitute a magic remedy. As the problem of the underrepresentation of women in leadership positions is multidimensional, measures taken to address this issue must also be multiple: sharing the speaking time in boardrooms, implementing trainings for men and women in influential board positions to raise awareness about gender equality and promoting education from an early age concerning gender stereotypes, sexism and culture of inclusion. Though this seems to be common sense, why isn’t it already happening? 

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* Annabelle Caprais has a doctor in sport sociology. She did her Ph.D. at the University of Bordeaux on “The place and the role of women in the governance of national sports federations”. 

References

Caprais, A., Sabatier, F., & Rubi S. (2020). Electoral competition and gender quotas: dearth of female applicants or structural resistance?, International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, 12:3, 349-364, DOI: 10.1080/19406940.2020.1782966

Caprais, A. (2020). La place et le rôle des femmes dans la gouvernance des fédérations sportives françaises (Doctoral dissertation, Université de Bordeaux). https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-03114344 

Cervin, G., Nicolas, C. (Eds.). (2019) Histories of Women’s Work in Global Sport : A Man’s World?. Palgrave McMillan.

Dahlerup, D., & Freidenvall, L. (2005). Quotas as a ‘fast track’to equal representation for women: Why Scandinavia is no longer the model. International feminist journal of politics, 7(1), 26-48.

Schoch, L., & Clausen, J. (2019). Women Within International Sports Federations : Contemporary Challenges. In G. Cervin & C. Nicolas (Éds.), Histories of Women’s Work in Global Sport : A Man’s World? (p. 299-326). Palgrave McMillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26909-8_12

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