The gender gap — where are all the female coaches?

Why are so many women either unable or unwilling to commit to top-level coaching? For Lilly-Ann O’Hora, Athletics Ireland’s women in sport officer, there are two main reasons

At the launch of Athletics Ireland’s Women in Sport Strategic Plan 2021-2024 were: Nuala Quigg, Star of the Laune AC; Michelle Finn, Leevale AC; Iseult O’Donnell, Raheny Shamrock AC; Jacqui Mulhall, MSB AC; Saragh Buggy, St Abban’s; Fiona Kelly, Newport AC; Mary Behan, St Pat’s Tullow AC.

It’s a curious quirk of the coaching landscape, one that raises a question as you ascend up the levels of the sporting ladder: Where are all the women?

From schools to clubs, tracks to pitches, it’s clear there’s a scarcity of female coaches. Even in athletics, one of the most equal of sports, the balance between genders at a participatory level isn’t replicated in coaching, and the further up the levels you go the worse that discrepancy becomes.