The Discursive Construction of Gendered Leadership within the Amalgamated State Football Federations in Australia

Abstract

Over the last decade major changes have occurred within the governance of Australian sport with new policy directions embracing the amalgamation of the women’s and men’s organisations. This change has provided the impetus for this thesis which examines the amalgamation process as an historical moment in the professionalisation of football as a third sector sport organisation in Australia. The research employs a qualitative methodology, within a sociological and feminist poststructuralist approach, to critically examine the discourses and power relations within the male-dominated culture of football federations that govern opportunities for women in leadership. My research began in 2006 with the Senate Inquiry ‘About time! Women in Sport and Recreation in Australia’, that identified how women continue to be under-represented in the decision making structures of sport organisations. More recently the changing public discourse about leadership and gender in Australia recognises that business imperatives and an increase in women in leadership roles can be complementary. In response, to the business imperatives and the persistent inequities in sport leadership this research critically examines how in the post-amalgamation context gender equity and women in leadership is discursively produced within policy and organisational strategies within the governance of football.