"Det løser sig selv". Skandinavisk idrætslederes indstilling til ligestilling

Resumé

Artiklen undersøger ligestillingsdebatten og -holdninger i de skandinaviske lande med særligt fokus på repræsentationen af kvinder på ledende poster i idrættens verden.

Ulla Habermann, Laila Ottesen, Gertrud Pfister, Berit Skirstad: »It will solve itself« (?) – On the Attitudes of Scandinavian Sports Managers to Equal Opportunities

The authors of this article have been jointly involved in an international research project entitled »Women at the Top«, the aim of which was to document and analyse the reasons why (Scandinavian) women are underrepresented in leadings posts in the world of sport. Identical surveys were conducted among sports managers in Norway, Sweden and Denmark – both men and women were part of the study. During the research period we have been struck by the apparently very different reactions and attitudes to the issue of equal opportunities in the three Scandinavian countries which otherwise are regarded as being very similar societies. This article examines what could be the factors that cause these differences. Our conclusion is that even if the typical sports manager can be said to possess a very uniform profile (age, gender, education, income and family relations) in all three Scandinavian countries, the issue of equal opportunities ( in sport management) is not only perceived but also solved in different ways. Denmark stands out as the country in which interest in equal opportunities is apparently most »relaxed« or »indifferent «, and where men often are more positive to changes than women. In Sweden the sport managers (men as well as women) show much more »political correctness « in their answers, whereas in Norway amore marked feminist attitude towards the issue divides men and women. In Norway and Sweden there seems to be more awareness than in Denmark of structural explanations (such as power relations and traditions) for the lack of women in sports management. And the Norwegian case in particular shows how initiative such as quota schemes can have a positive effect on attitudes to equal opportunities – or perhaps vice versa.