Gender equality in sports is a priority for many individuals and organisations, as highlighted by the 2024 Olympics which will feature equal numbers of men and women competitors. However, despite this major milestone in the global sport scene, significant gender disparities persist. For example, female representation in key leadership roles such as governance, coaching, technical officials and team leadership is still disproportionately low. The prevalence of sexual violence against women and girls and inadequate prevention and response mechanisms further compound these barriers.
To better understand the determinants of Europeans’ attitudes towards gender equality in sport, this brief uses data from a special Eurobarometer survey on sports (April-May 2022) to explore differences across Europe and identify underlying factors. Fuzzy-Hybrid TOPSIS is used to create a synthetic indicator of Europeans’ attitudes, and Latent Profile Analysis and Multinomial Logistic Regression are applied to cluster respondents based on these attitudes.
Results reveal large regional and socio-political differences in attitudes towards gender equality in sports. High ATGEQS scores are found in Finland and Sweden, in line with existing literature, which associates these countries’ welfare policies, progressive gender norms and high female participation rates with positive attitudes towards GE in sport (84-85). In contrast, Austria, the Czech Republic and Romania have relatively low ATGEQS scores, consistent with previous studies that argue that resistance to social reforms in these regions is shaped by religious conservatism and older socio-political structures (86-89).
Furthermore, a significant proportion of Europeans report that they have encountered discrimination against women in sports. This is consistent with other research, which highlights that gender stereotypes continue to shape perceptions of what sport ‘should be’ for women and girls. It is therefore crucial to raise awareness about these issues, in order to empower and motivate people to advocate for a fairer sporting world for all.