More than ten years after the launch of the sports feminization plan launched in 2012 by the then Minister of Sports, Valérie Fourneyron, the observation is there: if progress has been recorded in terms of access to the practice of sport (37 .8% of graduates in 2021) and the presence of women in governing bodies (38.5%), the technical executive sector is still struggling to get up to speed. There are only 19% women.
What are the brakes and how to release them? The French Rowing Federation decided to tackle these issues three years ago, making equality between women and men one of its priorities. She leads a global feminization project for which she benefits from aid distributed by the Impact Paris 2024 Endowment Fund.
Equal skills but a glass ceiling
First objective: to understand the phenomenon. To do this, the FFA is collaborating with the Laboratory on Vulnerabilities and Innovation in Sport (L-Vis) at the University of Lyon 1. After an initial survey in 2021 of women leaders within the FFA, a second on technical supervision has just revealed its results. Some debunk a few clichés, believing in particular that women are not qualified or experienced enough to run for coaching positions. Except not at all. The study underlines that within the FFA the technical executives men and women have absolutely similar academic and sporting skills.
However, women are much more often assistants, teaching young people more than adults, and at regional rather than national or international level. The traditional “glass ceiling”, which is often found in society, is unsurprisingly at work. Women are also in a more precarious situation (66% on permanent contracts compared to 81% for men) and less paid (only 3% at more than €2,500 per month compared to 19% for men). The study also shows that they give up the profession earlier than men, are less often in a couple and less likely to know the experience of parenthood.
Moreover, “29% of women identified the problem of sexist remarks”, notes the study. “ This work makes it possible to make an undeniable observation and to facilitate an awareness which is often only in its infancy in the world of sport.underlines Marine Romezin, expert consultant on equality issues in sport. It is then a question of working on a rebalancing, which requires a method, tools and time. »
“An ecosystem that must be disrupted”
This process, the FFA launched it in 2021 to improve the representation of women in governing bodies. She is starting it this year for her coaches and technical managers. “Our first action is to set up communities of practice inspired by a Quebec organization – Égalité action – that we met in Montreal at the end of 2022.explains Hélène Gigleux, national technical advisor to the FFA who has been working on feminization since 2012. These are groups of 12 participants who discuss the issues of their profession. The first community in February was for female professional coaches. Opportunities are lacking for this type of exchange and managers can sometimes feel isolated. »
Sharing experience, building networks (as women are rarer, solidarity of this type is also less common), questions about the barriers that push some people to abandon a profession-passion, “People are starting to realize all the interconnections that exist with us and that it’s an ecosystem that needs to be disruptedcontinues Hélène Gigleux. We know the importance of role models, and the fact that we have more and more regional technical advisers, for example, should help change representations and create a snowball effect. But all this of course does not happen overnight. » All the more reason not to dawdle. After the leaders and the technicians, the FFA intends tomorrow to tackle the feminization of another sector, that of the referees.