The impact of gender quotas in leadership in Norwegian organised sport

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to investigate the impact of gender quotas as a means to equalise the gender representation in the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sport (NIF), with particular attention to the composition of executive boards. According to NIF's here. Law Book, a certain number of both genders is required when electing boards and committees at all levels in the organisation. The law also states rules for exemption when not fulfilled. Based on qualitative interviews the study explores how the quota regulation is practised at various levels in the organisation. The results revealed that interviewees from the higher levels (sport federations and regional confederations) were well aware of the quota regulation, less so on the club level. To the question whether the quota regulation guided the composition of the boards, most of the federations and all the regional confederations followed the rule, at the club level about two-thirds of the boards were composed in accordance with the regulation. The results are discussed in relation to criteria for ‘strong’, ‘moderate’ and ‘weak’ regulation, which in terms of fulfilment appears ‘strong’ at the highest level in the organisation, and ‘moderate’ or ‘weak’ at the club level.