Thesis (MBA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2023 / The underrepresentation of women in management positions of rugby is a continued unresolved phenomenon not only in South Africa, but across the globe. It has been thirty years since the Brighton Declaration was adopted, which was attended 289 international states. The Brighton Declaration Conference seeks to promote the interest of women in sport; the conference in line with Sustainable Developmental Goals (also called “SDG. World Rugby has over 15 working committees that constitute less than 5 women serving as members in committees. South African Rugby Union (SARU), a custodian for rugby in South Africa, lacks women representation in senior management positions. Thus, a research conducted in women rugby in Polokwane Municipality. The aim of the research is to investigate the underrepresentation of women in management of sport and the implications for women ‘s participation in rugby sport in Polokwane Municipality, Limpopo Province. The research uses qualitative approach, and 20 participants were purposively sampled to respond to interview questions. The research findings revealed SARU’s inadequacy in developing women for management of rugby. Thus, the research recommends women empowerment through various sustainable development programs accustomed to equip women to occupy management and leadership roles. Furthermore, policy review on sport management should be considered, the review brings together women coaches, technical staff and other team officiating from various stakeholders of sports and rugby in particular. SARU has to review their inclusion policies, and implement them. World Rugby’s inclusion policies must also be implemented because in many cases inclusion policies only exist on paper.

What happened to women who are former athletic directors of intercollegiate athletic programs during each of the four stages of the departing experience was the problem of this study. A qualitative design using personal interviews for data collection and ethnoscientific explanation for analysis of the data were used to study thirty-one women who were athletic directors between 1975 and 1986. Analytical tasks performed for each of the four levels of analysis helped answer research questions directed toward finding patterns among women in the following areas: what happened to them within and throughout the four stages of the departing experience, reasons they left the position of athletic director, and satisfaction in their subsequent job. Analysis of the data established that the departing experience occurred in four stages. How the subjects responded to the way that opportunities for female student-athletes were offered during each st3ge of the departing experience determined whether they were in positive or negative circumstances. Sixteen subjects either were in positive circumstances throughout the departing experience or ended it in positive circumstances. Fifteen subjects were either in negative circumstances throughout the departing experience or ended it in negative circumstances. The ability to reevaluate their beliefs and values, adapt to changes in their programs, make rational decisions, and influence others to support their decisions determined whether they were in positive or negative circumstances in each stage of the departing experience. In general, the findings of this study support literature on women in administrative positions and literature on the effects of job loss and job change.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the role of physical activity in the lives of three Indian women living in Canada, specifically in the Lower Mainland, and to examine some of the more prominent issues they are facing in today's physical activity context by giving voice to their experiences and stories. This is a vital area to investigate because of the tendency to universalize and stereotype Indo-Canadian women without properly understanding their cultural backgrounds and the content and context of their physical activity experiences. I wish to understand what has motivated Indo-Canadian women to get involved with and continue with physical activity pursuits; and to what degree have social support structures (family, school, community, peers) influenced their decisions. Women in this particular age bracket (25-35) will hopefully be able to articulate not only their sporting experiences, but also their opportunities, constraints, dissatisfactions and accomplishments as they relate to physical activity. Social support structures such as family, community and school, physicality and the body, leadership and mentoring and self-promotion and marketing are some of the more prominent themes. The methodology chosen to extract the data is that of life story interviews. A series of in-depth interviews conducted with each of the individual participants reveals their own unique, complex and selective life and physical activity experiences. Each woman seemed to view, and construct the issue of participation in physical activity as a personal responsibility for community development. For example, one woman struggled to create and find support for an all-Indian dragon boat team and define a space for Indian women, while another desired to promote alternatives and encourage women to dance and maintain culture at a community level. The third participant's goals included increasing the participation rates of younger Indian women, by providing positive leadership. The participants are teaching Indian women and girls to un-learn an exclusion of self. Solutions proposed and implemented by them included: female-only environments, minimal or no-cost sessions, training and employing South Asians, daycare, accommodation of religious calendar, transportation, education in community and family, choice of attire, use of ethnic language, and redefinition of common images.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the role of physical activity in the lives of three Indian women living in Canada, specifically in the Lower Mainland, and to examine some of the more prominent issues they are facing in today's physical activity context by giving voice to their experiences and stories. This is a vital area to investigate because of the tendency to universalize and stereotype Indo-Canadian women without properly understanding their cultural backgrounds and the content and context of their physical activity experiences. I wish to understand what has motivated Indo-Canadian women to get involved with and continue with physical activity pursuits; and to what degree have social support structures (family, school, community, peers) influenced their decisions. Women in this particular age bracket (25-35) will hopefully be able to articulate not only their sporting experiences, but also their opportunities, constraints, dissatisfactions and accomplishments as they relate to physical activity. Social support structures such as family, community and school, physicality and the body, leadership and mentoring and self-promotion and marketing are some of the more prominent themes. The methodology chosen to extract the data is that of life story interviews. A series of in-depth interviews conducted with each of the individual participants reveals their own unique, complex and selective life and physical activity experiences. Each woman seemed to view, and construct the issue of participation in physical activity as a personal responsibility for community development. For example, one woman struggled to create and find support for an all-Indian dragon boat team and define a space for Indian women, while another desired to promote alternatives and encourage women to dance and maintain culture at a community level. The third participant's goals included increasing the participation rates of younger Indian women, by providing positive leadership. The participants are teaching Indian women and girls to un-learn an exclusion of self. Solutions proposed and implemented by them included: female-only environments, minimal or no-cost sessions, training and employing South Asians, daycare, accommodation of religious calendar, transportation, education in community and family, choice of attire, use of ethnic language, and redefinition of common images. / Education, Faculty of / Kinesiology, School of / Graduate

Using a survey and case study formats, this study focused on the level of understanding and implementation of Title IX relating to Texas public school students. The survey focused on the degrees of principal understanding and the compliance with the statute. Additional areas of study analyzed the impact of such factors as principal gender and school level on understanding and implementation. The case study examined the degrees of implementation for a district that had experienced civil rights action and one that had not.

"The problem of this study is to determine the growth of sports activities for women in the North Texas State Teachers College, Denton, Texas from 1908 to 1938"--1.

Sexy Sports: A reception study of the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) Olympics website coverage of women’s beach volleyball at the 2008 Beijing Olympics involves an examination of the sporting media and its reportage of the female athlete. The thesis will focus on the reception of the NBC Olympics website coverage of women’s beach volleyball at the 2008 Beijing Olympics by viewing groups constituted by the researcher. The reason for this is that it would be difficult to find naturally constituted audiences for this website, but its reception is never-the-less of research interest. My hypothesis is that the nature of the images and text on the website is overdetermined by the construction of women on other popular texts such as men’s magazines etc. In focusing on the meanings obtained from the content of the website (texts and images), the study will investigate how these meanings are naturalised in specific moments of production as well as through their intertextual relationships with similar texts involved in the glamorisation of female athletes. Specifically the study explores the meanings obtained from the content of the website (texts and images) and how in turn these meanings are naturalised by the consumers of the website. The study will utilise a qualitative research design to unpack the content of the website through the use of qualitative content analysis, focus group interviews and individual in-depth interviews. The research will be informed via a theoretical framework that draws from feminist theory, sport feminism, the concept of intertextuality between media texts, ideology and Stuart Hall’s model of preferred reading. Increasingly mainstream media uses the image of a woman’s body to sell almost anything from men’s razors to margarine and in so far as the reporting of women’s sports is concerned this holds true. Through the research I intend to account for the connotative power of other texts i.e. the men’s magazines and pornography, and how this is likely to be carried through into shaping the meanings that are read off the website. Arguably the production of the NBC texts and images are overdetermined by the existence of similar texts already in transmission in the circuit of culture.