The Underrepresentation of Women in Esports Leadership Positions: Exploring the Barriers and Facilitating Factors

Description

Background: Increasingly, organisations (e.g., the International Olympic Committee) and leagues (e.g., English Premier League) within the sport industry are diversifying into esports. However, the development of esports was primarily driven by men, resulting in a highly masculine environment. Like traditional sport, women remain underrepresented in all facets of esports leadership (e.g., executive organisational and coaching positions), although few empirical studies have explored the underrepresentation issue.

Aim: Offering new theoretical and empirical insights, this article explored the perceived barriers to, and facilitating factors for, female representation in esports leadership positions.

Methods: This qualitative research utilised semi-structured, online video interviews to obtain rich insight into individual’s experiences. Participants included female, organisational esports leaders, with representatives from the West and East. LaVoi and Dutove’s (2012) ecological model of barri- ers and supports for female coaches was used to deductively develop individual, interpersonal, organisational and sociocultural context codes. To maintain flexibility, codes that could not be anticipated by the framework were inductively developed to capture the complexity of the phe- nomenon. Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six phases of thematic analysis were followed to provide sound methodological and theoretical foundations for conducting thematic analysis.

Results: The preliminary results have informed a modified, socio-ecological model which captures the range of barriers and facilitators to women in esports leadership positions. Hegemonic mascu- linity and the ‘glass ceiling’ emerged as primary barriers, whilst key facilitators include affective characteristics such as resilience and perseverance.

Conclusion: Organisations must implement various strategies to enhance the representation of women in esports leadership positions. Practical recommendations are included to support the implementation of such strategies.

Period	26 Jun 2024 → 27 Jun 2024
Event title	Women in Sport and Exercise Science Academic Network
Event type	Conference
Location	Portsmouth , United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International