Issues of gender in sport leadership: reflections from Sub-Saharan Africa

Globally, a gender gap in sport leadership exists despite global reforms, leadership and key strategic actions. This paper reports on the leadership dimension of the 2021 follow-up study to the 2014 baseline study on gender leadership and participation in sport within southern Africa. It reports on changes over time in selected sports (athletics, basketball, boxing, football, and judo as recorded in the 2014 study, with the addition of netball in the 2021 research) and within five countries (Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe). A purposively selected sample group completed an online survey (N = 41), followed by structured interviews conducted with 45 decision makers from relevant government entities and national sport organisations. Findings indicate that Covid-19 had little effect on leadership composition across organisational types. Government entities spearheaded ‘gender reform’ with 47.7% female representation at the executive level. National Olympic Committees had 24.1% women in leadership and national sport federations 27.7% with the latter showing an increase of 6.7% since 2014. Men dominated in sub-committees (62.2%) and emerged as leaders in netball – a sport featuring 98% female participation. Key recommendations address the gender gap in sport leadership from the regional level.