WOMEN AND LEADERSHIP IN THE SPORT FEDERATION IN SAUDI ARABIA

Abstract

Although Saudi Arabia has recently experienced significant changes that have positively influenced the role of Saudi women in its society, little is known about the empowerment of Saudi females to leadership positions within the sports federations of Saudi Arabia. This research, therefore, sought to identify the main limiting factors that Saudi female leaders face as well as possible measures to address gender inequality in Saudi sports federations from Saudi female leaders’ own perspectives. Online individual semi-interviews were conducted with five Saudi female leaders working in Saudi sports federations. Thematic analysis of the qualitative data revealed five major limiting factors faced by Saudi female leaders in Saudi sports federations: (1) family; (2) culture and traditions; (3) men; (4) other women and (5) lack of experience. These findings support and extend the existing literature by identifying new barriers related to sports domains such as appearing in the media or wearing the abaya on the field. Thematic analysis also revealed two sources of support by which these challenges might be overcome: (1) personal measures and (2) organisational measures. Participants spoke about how strengthening female leaders’ self-confidence and introducing a nominating committee can help to address inequality in the leadership positions of Saudi sports federations. It is recommended that future research seeks to replicate the current study on a larger sample to seek further verification of the findings. This exploratory research has demonstrated that the empowerment of Saudi females to leadership positions within Saudi sports federations is a rich topic that warrants further investigation.