"Coaching in the UK is a hostile environment for women" - Part 1
This is the headline from research conducted by Women in Sport and Leeds Beckett.
I’ve written and spoken about some of the gender bias experiences I’ve had as a female coach. Some of them have been seemingly minor instances that make you feel undermined or second guess yourself. Others have been more direct and sometimes confrontational.
The research has come from 3 national surveys of coaches, heads of coaching workforce and CEOs. The report gives an insight into the coaching in the UK, which emerges as an unstable employment landscape for coaches of all genders.
There are a range of stats on the precarious nature of employment and pay, and the effect this has on the diversity of the workforce.
I have witnessed, experienced and heard about working conditions (including pay) that make it difficult for anyone and I’ve seen how it disproportionally affects anyone who isn’t young, white, male.
I’ve struggled to write this article for a while. I think because the findings are so large and some of it I have directly encountered or heard about.
I’ve decided to split this into a series of articles, following the main 4 sections of the report: employment landscape, coach development and progression, culture and inclusion, and keeping coaches safe from harm.
Part 1 (this article) will look at employment landscape. I’ve taken each of the main headlines from the report, summarised them and added my thoughts. At the end, I’ll go through actions.
Employment Landscape
“Coaching is characterised as an unstable and violatile employment landscape.”
The research found that coaching roles often have a mixture of contract statuses. These include full time, casual and permanent contracts for paid or voluntary roles.
The report stated that over half the coaches in paid employment stated that they don’t have a formal agreement with terms and conditions of employment.
Coaching as a career feels precarious. I’ve occupied roles that didn’t have clear definitions and it felt unstable. No terms and conditions means you feel at liberty of every club decision with no safety net.
“For many, working in coaching as a primary occupation is unsustainable.”
If coaching roles and contracts feel precarious then this means coaching as a main job won’t be enough to live on. 47% of coaches surveyed said coaching wasn’t their primary occupation. Many had additional full-time, part-time or self-employed work.
Alongside these financial demands, coaches are often then expected to pay for their own development through courses and CPD opportunities.
Coaching doesn’t look appealing if you’re seeking financial security. This has been my reality. I’ve done other roles (including teaching at a university in sports coaching) that I’ve loved, those roles have enhanced my coaching but also enabled me to coach.
“Women coaches are disadvantaged in accessing permanent and stable employment.”
The report highlighted that women are on more zero-hour contracts than men or have no formal agreements in place.
Restructuring of management is mentioned as one of the reasons women have left paid roles. In the age bracket of 35-44 years old, 45% of male coaches have permanent full time contracts compared to 19% of female coaches.
The disadvantages continue for women who are from ethnically diverse groups or who have disabilities or long-term health conditions.
I will soon be in the 35-44 age bracket. I have often occupied number of small part-time, flexible, informal roles. I formed a jigsaw puzzle of jobs. The roles I’ve occupied have often felt like they’ve been built on sand and could change due to managerial whim.
“Overall, women coaches can depend less on coaching income.”
The research showed that when starting out men and women are paid roughly the same, however as their careers progress men are paid more. This gap is most apparent at the 35-44 age bracket (again) where women are less likely to be earning higher levels of money.
This potentially shows women aren’t progressing to roles where there is a higher rate of pay during this age bracket, when their male counterparts are.
Alongside this, women are less likely than men to have their expenses reimbursed. Women are 10% more than likely to not receive expenses. This means that coaching is not a financially sustainable for women and potentially leaves them earning less and out of pocket.
The research also highlighted frustrations around late payments. Many of these financial issues have affected me, including late payments.
“Coaches have low awareness of maternity and paternity policies and pay entitlements.”
The research highlighted that both men and women are unaware of the rights they have as employees. However, the contracting inequity affects women in this area as well. As women are on more casual contracts they may not be entitled to any maternity benefits.
This adds additional barriers in front of women, making coaching a less viable career for women wanting a family. Many female coaches are fearful to enquire about maternity policies. This is due to a perception of coaching environments being unsuitable for female coaches who are mothers. The report says that women often face a choice between taking time away from their families or missing opportunities that harm their career.
Coaching as an industry needs to address the balance so that it’s not a choice between career and family.
What can we do?
The report is clear that the coaching landscape is insecure for coaches of any gender. However, these challenges affect more women. The report calls for minimum employment standards.
I want to echo that. There’s alot that governments and National Governing Bodies need to do.
We need to support the coaching workforce (coaches of all genders) and we need to address the structural issues that clearly affect female coaches.
As a female coach this is a non-exhuastive list of the things I need:
Job descriptions with pay included
Contracts and roles that assess hours, pay and workload at unsocial hours
A clear path for career progression
Increased awareness of employment rights (and how they differ between contracts)
Clubs (of all levels) to be able to access support on workforce strategy and planning
Jobs that are accessible to all - I am fed up of seeing men’s teams advertising for player-coaches. This immediately means I cannot apply. Even if the player-coach was optional, it makes me think it’s not worth applying as they won’t consider a female coach.
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