Gender Stereotypes in Nonprofit Governance: The Case of Nonprofit Sports Organisations

This study addresses the issue of a “lack of diversity” in nonprofit sports organisations, where gender stereotypes influence social expectations regarding who should hold leadership positions. By reflecting normative notions of femininities and masculinities and disseminating generalised opinions about what men and women are like, gender stereotypes often contribute to discrimination and prejudice. According to gender role congruence theory, leadership traits such as assertiveness and individualism are considered masculine and incompatible with female gender role traits, which are expected to be collaborative and sensitive. As a consequence, women face more barriers than men when climbing organisational hierarchies. The nonprofit sector is not immune from gender stereotypes that can limit women’s access to governing boards. This paper uses the lens of gender role congruence theory to explore the relationship between gender and governance in the domain of nonprofit sports organisations. Although sports do not have inherent gender characteristics, gender stereotypes often operate in this field, resulting in women being underrepresented on boards. The aim of the study is answering the following questions: To what extent are women represented on nonprofit boards? How likely are they to reach leadership positions (e.g. president) on the board? Does women’s representation vary according to the sport that nonprofits focus on? The findings confirm that, on average, board membership and leadership are still skewed towards men. Nonprofit sports organisations have more men than women in their boardrooms. Women are less likely than men to hold the position of president/chairperson of a nonprofit sports organisation. When sports are classified according to gender stereotypes (e.g. softball and volleyball are considered female sports; rugby and baseball are identified as male sports; swimming and running are neutral sports that can be played by both genders), women hold the majority of board and president positions only in nonprofits that focus on female sports.