Analysis by the Champions of Change Coalition of 11 major Australian sporting organisations and six AFL clubs showed for example that,broadly,many boards had a greater gender balance in the 2019-20 financial year as compared to the previous one. There was also a sharp increase in promotion and public appearance opportunities afforded to women athletes in the same period.
However,only 30.8 per cent of key management personnel were women in these organisations (down from 38.2 per cent the previous year),while that figure was 33.8 per cent for women in high performance roles.
Tennis Australia is one of the better performing organisations when it comes to these measures,but chief executive Craig Tiley still wants to improve his sport in this area.
He says one reason for that is because such roles usually need people who can travel,and traditionally men have been more available to do this. Organisations need to make it easier for women to carry out these roles,Tiley said.
“We don’t have enough[women coaches],and nearly every sport doesn’t have enough. Do you create ‘buddy coaching’ systems where you have two coaches?” Tiley said.
“And you have got to improve pay. There should be no excuse for pay equity[in coaching].
“In leadership roles,a potential woman leader comes under greater scrutiny than a male in my opinion. The argument always is ‘well the woman needs to prove herself’. Whereas the male is given a go.