Abstract des Autors

The aim of the project as formulated at its initiation was to “ensure that the Danish Sport Federation (Danmarks Idræts-Forbund) meets the demands of the equity policy programs in Danish sports. This entails an increased number and share of women in sports as board members, leaders, coaches and officials”, (translation RSJ). The initiative was based on the premise that DIF would support and initiate change on a voluntary basis, and that interested associations under DIF applied to be part of the project, by designing their own 3 year project plan. Seven associations were approved to take part: Danish Track and Field Association (Dansk Atletik Forbund, DAF); Danish Floorball Association (Dansk Floorball Union, DaFU); Danish Handball Association (Dansk Håndbold Forbund, DHF); Danish Orienteering Association (Dansk Orienterings-Forbund, DOF); Danish Sailing Association (Dansk Sejlunion, DSejlU); Danish Swimming Association (Dansk Svømmeunion, SVØM); Danish Taekwondo Association (Dansk Taekwondo Forbund, DTaF). The project duration was just under 3 years, from spring, 2008 to December, 2010. Structure and methods: The project evaluation has two parts. The first part was an effect study. It investigated the overall effects of the project on the number of female leaders. Furthermore it explored the changes in attitudes to and experiences with gender equity in the sport organizations. The second part was a process evaluation, investigating the processes and results of the projects in the individual associations mainly through qualitative interviews and project documents. This part strived to describe why and how different tools and approaches made a difference. Results:
At the general level the project has lead to a small increase in the representation of women on the executive boards in the associations involved. Differences were observed between the individual associations with regards to their goals, initiatives, results and general challenges regarding gender equity. These differences can be ascribed to structural differences, as well as to the extent to which the associations have been willing and able to increase gender equity. It seems that the path towards increased gender equity in leadership seems longer, the larger the association is and the more the association was skewed gender wise at the onset. The evaluation explicates several dilemmas between the perceived and actual gender equity. Most of the respondents in the surveys find women to be good leaders, although they seldom encourage women to ‘run for office’ at the top level nor elect them. The modes of recruitment may therefore be main barriers for recruitment, and explanations for lack of gender equality. Furthermore it seems that the project and the related initiatives has had the effect that more leaders and coaches in the survey find that gender equity has been reached now, even though this is not actually the case. In the second part of the evaluation, the individual projects are summarized and analyzed in terms of the goals, initiatives, process and results. These findings lead to the following recommendations: The results of the evaluations two parts can be summarized into a list of recommendations for the ongoing work with increasing the gender equity at the top level in the associations. The recommendations are focused around four central themes: cultural change; anchorage and legitimacy; recruitment and adherence; visibility. The study shows a general problem in creating results when the project is placed in a special and decentralized working group. It is a decisive prerequisite that the decision to increase the share of female leaders is accepted, continuously supported and promoted by the top level management. Gender equity should be integrated in the general strategic management and policy making. The report presents several suggestions on how to develop strategies for recruitment and adherence in order to diversify top level management and ensure democratic representation. Furthermore it seems important to increase awareness of the why’s and how’s of gender equality in order to promote good arguments for increasing equality among the leaders and coaches in the associations. The work of spreading information and increase awareness demands involvement and engagement of a broad variety of actors (male and female) from different levels of the organizations in order to achieve a coordinated effort and support. In other words there is a need for creating networks. In order to promote change, such networks need actors both high and low to achieve the sufficient legitimization and anchorage in the organizations. Other means of communication and dissemination such as using different media outlets to share stories and promote ideas and events also showed to be important in the projects. Verf.-Referat