FCN Collaborate with LUNEX University to Launch Groundbreaking Research into Experiences of Female Coaches in Olympic Sporting Codes
The Female Coaching Network and LUNEX University Collaborate to Launch a Groundbreaking Research Project: Governance, Recruitment, Experiences, and Perceptions of Female Coaches in Olympic Sporting Codes The Female Coaching Network (FCN) and LUNEX University proudly announce their collaborative partnership in launching an innovative research project focused on transforming the landscape of female coaching in Olympic sporting…
FCN Contribution to the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) Report
The Female Coaching Network were invited to contribute to the newly published Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC) into racism and sexism in Cricket in England. Sharing the insights gathered from a variety of sports including track and field, football, American Football and Tennis, FCN Founder Vicky Huyton discussed with the ICEC how a…
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Gendered microaggressions towards the “only” women coaches in high-performance sport
Following the publication of the research paper “Achieving Gender Equity in High Performance Athletics Coaching”, Professor Leanne Norman (and Richard Simpson) have published the open paper: Gendered microaggressions towards the “only” women coaches in high-performance sport. Professor Leanne Norman posted the following on Twitter: “Out now & open access – some of our latest research…
More Female Football Coaches than Ever Before, but Men Still Dominate
This latest research has been undertaken by Danny McLoughlin of Run Repeat. The report includes the teams that participated in the most recent season of the English FA WSL, Women’s Champions League, USA NWSL, German Frauen-Bundesliga, French Division 1 Feminine and Spanish Primera Division. It also included the top-25 ranked teams in The FIFA Women’s World…
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Coaching Stats for Manchester International 2021 (U.K.)
Recognised as one of the premier events in the U.K. domestic athletics calendar, Manchester International will see some of the UK’s brightest talents going head-to-head at the Manchester Regional Arena. This years event will take place at Sportcity, Manchester August 18th 2021, It is one of the rare occasions that all Home Country Teams can…
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Tokyo 2020: Team Canada Coaching Stats
Below are the numbers & percentages of female Team Coaches selected as part of each sport for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, according to the official Team Canada information. Archery – 1 coach – 0 female coaches – 0% Artistic Swimming – 2 coaches – 1 female coach – 50% Athletics – 22 coaches -…
Tokyo2020: Team GB Coaching Stats
Below are the numbers & percentages of female Team Coaches selected as part of each sport for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, according to the official Team GB information. Artistic Swimming – 2 coaches – 2 female coaches = 100% Archery – 2 coaches – 0 female coaches = 0% Athletics – 12 coaches -…
Number of Female Coaches in Each Team Sport at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
Below are the number of coaching positions available within the team sports at the Tokyo Olympic Games. These include Head Coaching Roles and Assistant Coaching Roles: Artistic Swimming —- 69 coaching positions – 63 female coaches = 91% Baseball / Softball —– 26 coaching positions – 10 female coaches = 38% Basketball ———— 78 coaching…
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Research Findings: NGB Approach is Fixing the Woman, not the System
Findings: Achieving Gender Equity in High Performance Athletics Coaching in the U.K. Representatives from each of the four home countries and UK Athletics were interviewed to explore their perspective and approaches towards the issue of gender equity within their high-performance coaching workforces. The following section outlines the key themes to arise from these interviews. In summary,…
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Research Findings: Undervalued and Exploited within the System
Findings: Achieving Gender Equity in High Performance Athletics Coaching in the U.K. The impact of the cultural and systemic issues have also impacted on the value ascribed to women by their governing bodies. There were a few examples of the coaches feeling valued by the NGBs in terms of their one-to-one exchanges with NGB staff: I…
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Research Findings: Gendered Assumptions
Findings: Achieving Gender Equity in High Performance Athletics Coaching in the U.K. In addition to a feeling of being in the minority, many of the women described how gendered assumptions still shape the coaching culture across the NGBs and clubs. Such assumptions are that women are suited to either a ‘nurturing’ role of working with younger…
10 Years of the Women’s Super League – Meet the Female Head Coaches
With the Women’s Super League (the professional women’s football league in England) celebrating it’s 10th year (2021), we thought we’d take a look back over the history of the leagues female head coaches. The WSL has hosted some of the most prominent and influential female football coaches in the sports history – with the first…
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Research Findings: Unequal and unsafe relationships with male coaches
Findings: Achieving Gender Equity in High Performance Athletics Coaching in the U.K. The existing coaching culture and broader systemic issues in the sport, coupled with the minoritised status of most women coaches have an emotional and relational cost for such individuals and greatly impacts their relationships with male peers in the system. A recurrent and serious…
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Research Findings: Closed and Exclusive Networks
Findings: Achieving Gender Equity in High Performance Athletics Coaching in the U.K. The other consequence of a lack of professionalised coaching system is that it is a breeding ground for same- sex, informal yet powerful exclusive networks. This ultimately works against women coaches because of the current culture of many NGBs as described in section 2.1. Such unregulated…
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Research Findings: A Culture of ‘Poaching’
Findings: Achieving Gender Equity in High Performance Athletics Coaching in the U.K. The culture of ‘poaching athletes’ was a frequent theme in the data. This is a similar finding to previous research that found such an issue in relation to Black and Minoritised Ethnic coaches: high-potential athletes are ‘poached’ from coaches and assigned to more powerful…
Research Findings: Feeling Minoritised
Findings: Achieving Gender Equity in High Performance Athletics Coaching in the U.K. It is evident from the statistics and data that women represent a numerical minority within athletics coaching at all levels of the coaching pathway. This numerical imbalance was also felt by the women and it translated into a feeling of being minoritised. Many of the…
The Athletes Perspective: ‘Achieving Gender Equity in High Performance Athletics Coaching in the UK’
The aim of this present study was to: map the composition of the athletics coaching workforce in the UK, understand the experiences of high-performance female coaches working within their organisations, understand the impact of gender diversity amongst coaches on high-performance athletes, and to gather insight into the organisational processes and practices towards achieving gender equality…
Launch of our Research Project: Achieving Gender Equity in High Performance Athletics Coaching in the U.K.
FCN launches their long awaited research project “Achieving Gender Equity in High Performance Athletics Coaching in the U.K.” This project, in partnership with Professor Leanne Norman of the Centre for Social Justice in Sport and Society at Leeds Beckett University (UK), began in January 2020 and was finalised in December 2020. It is intended that…
How important is women’s fitted kit to you?
For a woman in sport, one of the most difficult tasks is often finding sports wear that not only fits, but makes you look and feel professional. Walk into any mainstream sports store, and you have a choice between the women’s section filled with short shorts, tight lycra and crop tops, or head over to…
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Female Coach Stats in British Track & Field
Below are a list of short videos highlighting some of the statistics we have discovered through our research of Track & Field in the U.K. More videos will be added over the coming weeks. https://youtu.be/qp5JDh0gPz4 https://youtu.be/JCI4_8nU1y0 https://youtu.be/vPjP2omoVZs https://youtu.be/eOA4mKTR-tg
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DOHA 2019 – Meet the 2% of Female Coaches
27th September – 6th October 2019 sees the 17th edition of the IAAF World Athletics Championships take place in Doha. The Championships comes second only to the Olympic Games and will see the best athletes in the World compete in Track & Field over the 10 days. 2,043 athletes from 210 countries will be competing…
EURO 2017: Only 6 out of 16 coaches are women, but it’s an improvement…
This week saw the start of the UEFA European Women’s Football Championships, hosted in the Netherlands. There is a huge amount of excitement around this tournament, with all the progress women’s football has made around the world in recent years, this seems to be the tournament to test the water and see just how…
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