Women coaching men in hockey at competitive levels: Barriers and solutions

There are currently disproportionately fewer women than men coaching hockey at competitive levels. Questionnaires and in-depth interviews were conducted with Canadian athletic directors, coaches and players to investigate this current trend. A purposive sample of participants reflected both genders. It is hypothesised that there are still current gender barriers that prevent women from coaching men in hockey at competitive levels and that these barriers can be broken. An analysis of the questionnaire and interview data revealed that gender barriers still continue to limit women's access to competitive hockey coaching positions. Such barriers include: unfair economic distributions and opportunities, negative perceptions and lack of media support. The tactics to eliminate these barriers focus on making improvements in the following areas: mentoring programs, economic distributions and opportunities, media support, perceptions and government involvement.