History of gender inequality in sports management in Kenya, 1901–2019

Abstract

Sports management in Kenya is basically a male affair. Despite rivalling men‟s achievement in international competitions in some sports, women play a marginal role in top decisionmaking levels of sports in the country. Preceding studies have explained this inequality in terms of patriarchy. This approach, however, overlooks the role of state and non-state stakeholders in perpetuating gender inequality in sports management. This study delved into evolution of sports management in Kenya in order to understand how male dominance was reproduced and contested across three eras: the early colonial period before the establishment of sports organisations as well as the amateur and professional eras. The study covered the period between 1901 and 2019. The researcher reviewed global, continental and national literature to obtain information on gender and sports management and to identify knowledge gaps in studies on gender and sports management in Kenya. The researcher employed cultural and gender theories as the main analytical lenses. The researcher employed the ex-post facto design purposive and snowball techniques in sampling. The main study area was Nairobi County because this is where most sports federations‟ headquarters are located. The researcher examined primary source documents ranging from official reports to newspaper reports. Such documents were obtained from the Kenya National Archives (KNA) as well as institutional archives across the country. The researcher also conducted interviews on gender issues in sports management with people who have been involved in, or observed, management of sports in Kenya. All sources of information were subjected to external and internal criticism in order to establish their authenticity as well as validity of the information. The major finding was that gender inequality in contemporary sports management is an aggregate of historical interaction of stakeholders‟ interests with cultural factors and sports ideologies, especially muscular Christianity, amateurism and Olympism. Overall, the study foregrounded the historicity of reproduction and contestation of male dominance in sports management in Kenya. The research findings will be helpful in informing interventions because it identifies the drivers of gender inequality in sports management and how they operate.