Abstract
Female sport students at universities are exposed to the realities of the sports industry through theory taught in lectures, messages sent out by the media, or the process of socialisation. From this exposure, the expectancy is that they develop distinct perceptions and aspirations towards sport leadership. One of the most prominent realities of the sport industry across the world is the underrepresentation of females in sport leadership positions. This phenomenon is a historical trend, yet it still exists in modern culture. Sport is an industry that is ever-growing, so much that it presents a significant amount of employment opportunities in areas such as sport administration, sport management and sport leadership. Despite these noteworthy opportunities that exist, females remain marginalised from pursuing or acquiring leadership positions in sport. The dominance of males in sport organisations, the notion of sport being a “man’s world”, the glass ceiling, and self-limiting behaviours by females, are citied as some of the reasons for the perpetual underrepresentation of females in sport leadership positions. This low representation of existing female sport leaders in South Africa prompted the need to investigate the perceptions and aspirations of female sport students in particular, towards sport leadership, given the knowledge that university students are being developed into the next generation of leaders. The study adopts a quantitative research method and data was collected using a self- developed questionnaire from a convenient sample of 97 female sports students. The questionnaire was self-administered by the participants and the data collected provides insight into the perceptions and aspirations of the female sport students, studying at a South African university. The study reveals that the female sport students’ perceptions of a leader in general are neither influenced by the leader’s gender nor physical characteristics, but rather by the leader’s ability to make a change. The participants felt that the media plays a role in influencing perceptions by giving male sport more media coverage in comparison to female sport. The study found that female sport students believe that females can pursue careers in sport leadership, and that these careers and opportunities were not only suitable for males...
M.Com. (Business Management)