Few women work as sports trainers and referees, and above all in the sports traditionally regarded as male ones. And not only quantitatively, qualitatively, too, they are also in a worse situation; for example, women usually work at minor events. They come up against a whole host of obstacles for doing this work at major events, according to a study conducted in the Department of Social Psychology and Methodology of Behavioural Sciences. Responsible for this situation are largely the stereotypes established in society, the organisation of the sports federations and clubs, and the resignation of the women themselves.
A career full of obstacles for female trainers and referees
According to a study by the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country, stereotypes are behind the psychosocial obstacles that women trainers and referees come up against
First publication date: 01/02/2017
"When women depart from the roles established in the sphere of sports, huge resistance emerges. For example, the fact that women should make decisions or know a lot about sport, let alone having a woman referee a match played by men, is regarded as a stereotype challenge. The participation of women in places where power exists on the whole generates huge resistance," said Ainhoa Azurmendi, lecturer in the Department of Basic Psychological Processes and their Development in the UPV/EHU's Faculty of Psychology. She has studied the presence of women in the echelons of trainers and referees, and has found that it is another consequence of the gender inequality existing in society.
Azurmendi has confirmed that resistance and objections to the participation of women exist in three aspects. Firstly, they come from the social environment: "The fact that spectators reprimand female referees with remarks such as "Go home and do the washing up!" is due to the allocation of roles and stereotypes widespread in society," explained Azurmendi. Secondly, many aspects of the way the federations and clubs are set up "hamper the access of women," she went on. "In these bodies the informal networks of men prevail, in other words, they comprise groups of friends. They help and support each other, and that becomes a barrier for women". Finally, the women themselves when faced with all these situations and difficulties "lose self-confidence and stop trying to access that world. Yet that attitude simply confirms the stereotypes and women end up doing what is socially expected of them".
A global problem but one that can be remedied
The study carried out by Azurmendi to reach all these conclusions consisted of two parts. Firstly, she conducted personal, in-depth interviews with 33 female trainers and referees in different sports. With the information gathered in them she drew up a questionnaire, and in the second part she sent it to men and women in these echelons in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain and Canada to contrast the data. "I decided to take people from Canada into consideration for the contrast due to the fact that in Canada they have been working on the sphere of equality for many years, and have been promoting the presence of female trainers; they have implemented a whole host of programmes for this purpose," explained Azurmendi.
In Canada, women are infinitely more numerous in the echelons of trainers and referees, but differences exist there, too, and women likewise come up against sociocultural, organisational and personal obstacles. "What is taking place is something structural. Anywhere one can see that the biggest problems emerge in the sports traditionally regarded as part of the male preserve. And if we compare the situation between female referees and trainers, we can see that female referees are in an even worse situation owing to the social stigma which this profession carries around with it; it seems that everyone is entitled to offload all their frustration onto them," said the lecturer.
Although the current situation is bad, Azurmendi does not think that it would be difficult to turn the situation around; "it's a question of will," she remarked. "For example, in the Basque Autonomous Community we have a very suitable legal framework to achieve that. Another matter would be getting the legislation complied with. To make progress down this road, one of the most important things is to create good practices: women have to enter these echelons, and an effort has to be made to ensure that those who have made it there are in a good situation. That way, when young girls begin to train, if they see that there are also women trainers and referees, it will be easier to create adhesions and get them to continue in the sport, and they need to see that being a referee or a trainer is a possibility".
It would also help tremendously to provide everyone in the sphere of sports with gender equality training, to encourage equality policies across the sports structure, in particular in the sports bodies (federations, clubs, etc.). "From my own point of view as well, sports bodies would have much to gain if they were to change their attitude and, for example, if they were to oppose the reprimands endured by a female referee; at the end of the day, the attitude of the clubs exerts an influence on society," she concluded.
Additional information
Ainhoa Azurmendi-Echegaray (Hernani, Basque Country, 1978) is a specialist in incorporating the gender perspective into sports, and having seen the reduced presence of women in the echelons of trainers and referees, she decided to focus her PhD work on this question. The thesis is entitled "Psychosocial Obstacles for the participation of women in sport as trainers and referees" (Obstáculos psicosociales para la participación de las mujeres en el deporte como entrenadoras y árbitras) and her thesis supervisors were Dr Ana Isabel Vergara-Iraeta, dean of the UPV/EHU's Faculty of Psychology, Dr María Olga Cardeñoso-Ramírez of the Department of Evolutionary Psychology and Education at the Teacher Training School in Leioa (Bizkaia). She wrote up her PhD thesis in the Department of Social Psychology and Methodology of Behaviour Sciences; today, however, she works as a sports consultant for the company Avento, and as a lecturer in the Department of Basic Psychological Processes and their Development.
