The Gender Gap In Female Dominated Sports

Stephanie Yip
KINE 323-01
Jafra Thomas
April 25, 2022
 The sports industry has a long history of discrimination and prejudice towards
female athletes. Although certain sports have the stereotype of being a ‘female’ sport, male
athletes in these ‘female’ sports still experience advantages not available to their female
counterparts. A prime example of the gender gap in female-dominated sports is ballet.
Despite an estimate of a 20:1 female to male ratio in ballet classes, the majority of the
people who hold immense power and influence in the ballet industry, such as artistic
directors and choreographers, are men (Forbes). The phenomenon of gender inequality in
the leadership of the ballet industry despite being a female-dominant field is a perfect
reflection of Christine William’s term, glass elevator.
DISCUSSION
In the ‘Women, Race, and Sports’, it is crucial "to preserve and enhance
opportunities for leadership and career development of women athletic administrators and
to strengthen collegiate athletic programs, particularly as they relate to women.", however
a deeper look into the ballet industry reveals a severe gender inequality in ballet leadership
and administrative positions despite being a female dominated sport. In fact, Elizabeth
Yntema founded the Data Dance Project (DDP) to promote equity in classical ballet by
documenting and advocating for gender equality in the ballet industry. According to the
DDP, 72% of ballet companies have a male artistic director and 81% of work from the top 50
ballet companies are choreographed by men. The workplace inequality continues further
into the pay of female leaders where female artistic directors earn 68 cents to every dollar a
male artistic director earns. Furthermore, only one female artistic director was on DDP’s top
ten highest paid artistic directors. Surprisingly, Williams found that phenomena like this
occur in other female dominated careers such as teaching and nursing (Williams, 256). This
phenomenon of the glass elevator fights back against the common thread of tokenism in
regards to gender discrimination in the workplace.

A deeper look into the ballet industry reveals a severe gender inequality in ballet leadership
and administrative positions despite being a female dominated sport. In fact, Elizabeth
Yntema founded the Data Dance Project (DDP) to promote equity in classical ballet by
documenting and advocating for gender equality in the ballet industry. According to the
DDP, 72% of ballet companies have a male artistic director and 81% of work from the top 50
ballet companies are choreographed by men. The workplace inequality continues further
into the pay of female leaders where female artistic directors earn 68 cents to every dollar a
male artistic director earns. Furthermore, only one female artistic director was on DDP’s top
ten highest paid artistic directors. Surprisingly, Williams found that phenomena like this
occur in other female dominated careers such as teaching and nursing (Williams, 256). This
phenomenon of the glass elevator fights back against the common thread of tokenism in
regards to gender discrimination in the workplace.
Williams smartly coined the term glass elevator as a juxtaposition to the term glass
ceiling. Glass elevator refers to the invisible forces that advance a male’s career in a female
dominated space (Williams, 253). On the other hand, Marilyn Loden coined the term glass
ceiling to describe the invisible barriers to success females experience in their careers
(Loden, 1978). At first, upon hearing the term glass elevator, I found the term
counterintuitive. After all, how can a man experience advantages in a female-dominated
space while women experience disadvantages in male-dominated spaces?
However, Williams conducts a series of interviews that reveals inherent gender
biases that provide these men benefits throughout their career despite being a minority.
The gender inequality starts during the recruiting process into a company. Williams (1992)
found that during the hiring process, males are typically still preferred over female
candidates unless a specific rule prevents men from being employed. Interestingly,
regardless of these rules, men can still be hired for other positions in the company which
often are of a higher rank than the one they originally applied for. This leads to a scenario
different from male-dominated work environments. Supervisors in both male and female
dominated work spaces are more likely to be male than female. Hence, although a male
enters a company as a minority, they are often managed directly by those of the same
gender, an experience female employees do not have in male-dominated environments.
This in itself presents a snowball effect wherein small biases present in the start of one’s
ballet career can lead to bigger results creating gender inequality in the ballet industry.
Looking at these findings, I found myself surprised at the level of gender privilege
men have in their careers including ballet. I was often under the impression that men will
not thrive in ballet since they were a minority, perhaps there will be less roles open to male
ballet dancers and they may find a harder time relating to their colleagues or supervisors.
However, it is surprising to see the degree to which biases in the hiring process leads to an
influx of male supervisors that perpetuates gender inequality in ballet. Exposure to such
texts and theories has broadened my understanding of gender inequality in female
dominated sports. These studies and statistics reveal that it is critical for female
empowerment in sports to occur in every sport, not just male-dominated sports. There
continues to be room for improvement in sports, regardless of their gender percentages, to
create gender equality.
CONCLUSION
Enrolling in this course has been an eye-opening experience for me in understanding
gender inequality in sports. While gender inequality in sports such as soccer and basketball
are clear, inequality in female dominated sports like ballet seem more unclear. Outsiders to
the industry like myself witness the discrimination male ballet dancers experience from
those not in the industry, leading to the misconception that females in the ballet industry
must be the ones who experience disproportionate success in their careers in comparison to
their male counterparts. However, the research conducted by DDP and Williams has shown
the complete opposite. The inherent bias that favors men carries on into female-dominated
sports. This presents an interesting conundrum for those in the sports industry to tackle in
regards to gender equality. Structural change should occur to ensure that more female
athletes are given equal opportunities to their male counterparts to thrive professionally in
their sport, regardless if the sport is dominated by males or females.

Word Count: 1055 words

Citations:
 Williams, C. L. (1992). The glass escalator: Hidden advantages for men in the "female"
professions. Social Problems, 39(3), 253–267.
https://doi.org/10.1525/sp.1992.39.3.03x0034h
 August 29, 2019 | E. Y. | A. and culture. (2019, August 29). The ballet world is still male-
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https://womensmediacenter.com/news-features/the-ballet-world-is-still-male-dominated-
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 Elsesser, K. (2019, September 12). A gender gap in ballet, seriously? Forbes. Retrieved April
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 Digital Commons - Santa Clara University School of Law ... Women, Race, and Sports: Life
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New references:
 Marilyn Loden:
Revisiting the glass ceiling by Marilyn Loden. (n.d.). Retrieved April 27, 2022, from
http://www.loden.com/Site/Site/Articles%20-%20Videos%20-%20Survey/C615CFE8-A70C-
4E3A-9F81-8EACB0E087D0.html
 Kanter 1977: Men and women of the Corporation. Men and Women of the Corporation -
Book - Faculty & Research - Harvard Business School. (n.d.). Retrieved April 27, 2022,
from https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=10807
 (n.d.). Women, Race, and Sports: Life Before Title IX, 1(1).