While women’s sport gains unprecedented popularity and investment, the gender disparity persists off the pitch—especially in coaching roles—highlighting cultural barriers, financial gaps, and the urgent need for systemic change.
By Emma Griffiths
One needs only to look at the headlines surrounding the booming popularity of the UEFA Women’s Euros or the Rugby World Cup to know that women’s sport is currently experiencing a previously unseen level of popularity and visibility. However, although in this discussion people often refer to ‘women’s sport’ as a cohesive whole, this industry is anything but homogenous – not only encapsulating a vast array of sports, but also hundreds of positions and jobs within it.
And although milestones like the Lionesses becoming fully professional denote the exciting change that women’s sport is undergoing, this change is often yet to reach the areas of the industry off the pitch, such as within coaching.
In January 2024, only one third of coaches in the highest female football division, Women’s Super League (WSL) were women, and the recent sacking of Susie Appleby by the Exeter Chiefs means that there will not be a single female head coach in the Women’s Premiership Rugby (PWR) after this summer’s World Cup.
These statistics highlight the shocking gender disparity regarding the lack of equal gender representation within these roles, an issue which is not only complex and multifaceted but also stems from several factors.
One of the most obvious, which also collectively faces women’s sports more generally, is the lack of financial backing in comparison to male counterparts.
Women’s sport, due to its lack of visibility and thus lower fanbase, rakes in far less than the male versions of their sports. An eye opening example of this is that Deloitte’s recent forecasting of women’s football having its biggest revenue year with an increase of 35% to $820 million is completely swept away when faced with the staggering yearly revenue of Real Madrid of over $1 billion. This disparity within funding thus often manifests in limited ability to invest in training, as qualifications like a UEFA Pro Coaching License cost around £10,000, which in turn results in further gender disparity within sports.
In addition to these financial thresholds, the cultural glass ceiling that female coaches have to contend with is a major barrier to their career trajectory. The gender disparity is shown when the UK Coaching Report found that 67% of male coaches, compared to only 55% of female coaches, get recognized for their efforts, and a study by Loughborough University found that female coaches not only face more physical career barriers, but also have to content with stereotyped perceptions that are not extended to their male counterparts.
Vicky, who played professional rugby before moving into coaching, spoke of her coaching career being “polar opposites to my male counterparts”, having to continuously prove herself in a way not expected from the male coaches. She estimated that “my volunteer commitments is probably ten times more than what my male counterparts [of the same level] would have to do”. This vast difference not only points to the extra hoops that women have to jump through to prove their professionalism, but also the reduced value placed on female coaches’ time by the industry.
Vicky continues that she “found that [with] some of my male counterparts who had played high level rugby, there was an assumption that they knew what they were doing, and therefore didn’t need a qualification to go and coach in a particular setting, while I was always asked what my qualifications and years of experience were”.
Her story corroborates Loughborough’s finding that female coaches’ careers are directly affected by stereotyped preconceptions, and points to a real failing within the industry.
The research highlighted perpetuated ideas of things like the extremities of being ‘too harsh’ or ‘too soft’, the competence threshold being significantly raised for women to receive praise, and the idea of being ‘competent or likeable, not both’, three typecasts that demonstrate a level of built-in misogyny and skewed expectations within the industry that prevent women from progressing and pervading spaces at the same rate as their male equivalents.
Amelia, a field-hockey player and coach, spoke of her first-hand experiences of “feeling [like I was] being held to a higher standard and not feeling like I could show my emotions in the same way the male coaches could, as it would be seen as ‘too much’ or ‘inappropriate’”.
And with women’s sport facing such an exciting period of extended growth and interest – one that is looking to only increase – the importance of these issues are being thrown into greater light.
All of the Red Roses’ games broke even for the first time this year, and the PWR final made money for the first time in history, demonstrating a shift for the financial future of women’s rugby, and thus opening new opportunities and investments for creating more space for female coaches. And as much as creating these opportunities is important for sparking change and reversing stereotypes, the positive impact that these positions have on the sports and players themselves cannot be overlooked.
Speaking to Dave Ward, head coach of the Bristol Bears Women, he was candid about some of the less visible difficulties of coaching players of the opposite sex as “obviously for women you’ve got the menstrual cycle which affects performance … me being a male coach, the girls might not want to discuss it with me, so we’ve got female medical staff and obviously Amber [Reed]”. This highlights the need for more female coaches as not only a means for exacting change, but also due to the fact that women’s sport does fundamentally differ from and require different approaches to the men’s games.
However, despite these disparities within the gender representation off the pitch still being present, there have been definite moves to tackle this, signaling an exciting new period for all levels and branches of women’s sport. One of these such initiatives is Sail GP’s Women Accelerator Program in collaboration with Apex Group, which aims to “increase representation of women at senior management levels, working towards driving more inclusive decision making through the league and wider sport”. This three year commitment, off the back of the 2023 McKinsey Women in the Workplace report revealing that in the company there were only 36% women at Head of Department level and 42% at Director level (both of which figures are still terrifyingly above the US national average of 28% and 37% respectively), demonstrates a tangible promise that the gender disparity in women’s sport is in the midst of an upheaval.
Clare McEwen, author of ‘She Can Kick It’, described the current climate of women’s sport as “night and day from when I was a kid”. As a grassroots coach, Clare was positive about coaching at this level, explaining the welcoming atmosphere and lack of perceptions attached to gender on the whole. “I’ve been really lucky with the coaches that I’ve come into contact with from other clubs – in two seasons I’ve only had one condescending comment from another coach”.
This stark difference between the barriers in place higher up within the sport add another fascinating angle to the question of how to improve female accessibility – that of when these preconceived ideas come into play. This further highlights the importance of grassroots actions, bringing more women into coaching – as Clare admits “it’s assumed that because I’m female I’m coaching the girls’ team but by having more women coaching both, you help with a perception throughout the male side of the game as well”.
Amelia was vocal about the impact of these changes within the industry, and the impact that they are having. “I feel like we are living in such a big moment for women in sport – the discussion panels, change makers coming out of professional female sport etc. It really is an exciting and powerful time to be a woman in sport”.
And when we look further across the sporting world, this hope and positivity rings even truer. News like the appointment of Dame Katherine Grainger as the first female chair of the British Olympic Association in its 119 year history seems to act as further confirmation that not only the women on the pitches are gaining the recognition and respect that they deserve, but also those across the industry in boardrooms and training practices. Although there is undeniably a huge way still to go to broach the gender disparity, it highlights yet another aspect of women’s sport that will be incredibly exciting to watch develop, especially during a summer of unrivalled financial and public attention on the women’s games with the UEFA Women’s Euros and the Women’s Rugby World Cup.
Clare’s book, She Can Kick It, can be found for purchase here.
