Elite women coaches negotiating and resisting power in football
A summary of the article:
The article "Elite Women Coaches Negotiating and Resisting Power in Football" examines how women in elite coaching positions navigate the male-dominated field of football. Through interviews with ten female national team coaches, the study explores how these women experience and resist various forms of power, including sovereign, biopower, and discursive power, which work to uphold the dominance of men in football coaching. The findings show that women coaches often face barriers such as biased hiring practices, unequal access to training, and gendered expectations. Despite these challenges, the coaches engage in acts of resistance by questioning these norms, seeking self-education, and creating alternative narratives that emphasize their own expertise and experience.
The study highlights the ways in which football’s governing bodies (FAs) exert control through licensing and hiring, often privileging male coaches, even for women’s teams. Women coaches find themselves sidelined or overlooked in favor of men, reinforcing the idea that football is inherently a male sport. However, these women challenge this narrative by actively seeking out knowledge and asserting their competence. They resist through "problematization," questioning gendered assumptions, and by creating alternative discourses that position them as more qualified to coach women's teams than their male counterparts.
Key Takeaways:
Power imbalance in hiring practices: Football associations often hire male coaches, even when female candidates are more qualified, reflecting the ongoing bias against women in leadership roles.
Resistance through self-education: Female coaches actively seek alternative ways to gain the knowledge they need, as formal education programs in football tend to focus on men's experiences and exclude women.
Challenging dominant discourses: Women coaches resist being sidelined by creating alternative narratives that position them as experts in women's football, thereby challenging the notion that men are more capable coaches.
Authors: Annelies Knoppers, Donna de Haan, Leanne Norman, Nicole LaVoi
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