Research carried out by OSS Research Officer Ryan Brown, Dr Paula Murray, and OSS assistants, will headline the upcoming Scottish Women in Sport conference at Tynecastle, this Thursday, 9th September.
This research, which also involved OSS research assistants Fiona Beth Doran, Jack Templeton and Jamie Mack, is the first of its kind to be conducted in Scotland since 2004 and represents a starting point in analysing the number of women in leadership positions in sports bodies across Scotland, gender balance trends and how Scottish sport can shape its policies and working practices to improve the gender balance. The research investigated the trends around the numbers of women in Scottish sport governance, coaching and officiating, and provides insight and understanding around the women leading various aspects of Scottish sport and the work of Scottish governing bodies to promote and achieve gender equality.
Among the headlines to be shared at the conference are the statistics that the number of females on boards of sport governing bodies has increased over the past five years, but the number of male members remains fairly static, suggesting boards are increasing in size to accommodate more women. The number of women holding chair positions has nearly doubled in the past five years, from 10% to 19%, but men retain 81% of the chair roles, and it is a similar story for Chief Executives of Scottish sports organisations with 81% being men and 19% women, which highlights a widening disparity from 77% and 23% in 2015.
The full research report will be published on this site in October.
Thought Piece from Charlie Raeburn for Reform Scotland