Dear Colleagues,

As you probably know well, the sport domain retains a considerable degree of disparity between males and females. This is true for both the sport organizations and the sport performance as well as for many of the activities that people carry on in their free time. Sport is considered mainly a masculine domain for its intrinsic characteristics (i.e., strength) and women who engage in some specific kind of sports may be perceived as “masculine”. The persistence of these stereotypes, reinforced by the mass-media representation of female athletes (e.g., masculine, sexualized), put other barriers for gender equality inside the sport field. Gender inequality is at the origin of under-performance of female athletes and barrier to job career for women working in sport organizations. Respecting gender difference in sport activities and sport organizations helps maintaining an inclusive environment. On the contrary, a lack of respect brings to social and psychological cost both for women and men. This special issue is devoted to investigating the questions raised by gender inequalities in the diverse areas of sport and leisure practice. In this way we may all together make stock of the current situation and contribute to raise the awareness of these phenomena. Your contribution will certainly improve the quality and the impact of this special issue of Sustainability.

Prof. Stefano Boca
Dr. Ambra Gentile
Guest Editors

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• sport and leisure time
• gender pay gap
• glass ceiling
• glass cliff
• gender stereotypes

1. Title: The tension between women’s own ambitions and the gender steretypes: the “Queen bee syndrome” also within the Sports Federations

Authors: All authors designed and conceptualized the study, methods, data collection, coded and ana-lyzed the data, wrote the manuscript, and approved the final manuscript.
Author Affiliations: Cibibin Caterina, Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padova, Italy Leo Irene, Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padova, Italy
Abstract: Many studies have shown that women in top positions tend to hinder and mistreat oth-er women: this phenomenon is known in literature with the term "Queen bee syndrome" [1]. The aim of this study is to investigate whether queen bee syndrome is also present within the sports federations. To this end, an online questionnaire was administered: it consisted of questions re-lating to personal information and standardized tests to evaluate some constructs. From the sta-tistical analyzes it emerged that coaches in the 40-49 age group attribute to themselves more masculine than feminine adjectives and score higher on the gender stereotype scales, Attitudes Towards Women Scale (d = -.1189, p <.05) and Macho Scale compared to trainers in the 18-29 age group (d = -.1681, p <.05). Moreover, a positive correlation emerges between the scores obtained on the Attitudes Towards Women Scale and Macho Scale (r = .600, p <.01) and between organi-zational support and affective attachment to the organization (r = .529, p <.01). Overall, all the results seem to show presence of the Queen bee syndrome also within the Sports Federations. In the future it will be interesting to evaluate additional variables involved in this phenomenon.

2. Title: Gender (Dis)parities by Design or Culture? An interrogation of Women Participation in Athletics as a case of Kenya
Authors: Lorna Kimaiyo and David Maina
Author Affiliations: Kenyatta University
Abstract: For decades, Kenyans have dominated world athletics, especially in middle and long distances races. From the middle of the twentieth century, Kenyans were already gaining international recognition on the world stage. However, the dominance of men in sport was clearly apparent. The gender gap at that time was huge with only a handful of women participants. This paper is an exploration of women and sports participation in Kenya is twofold: it examines the genesis of gender disparities in the participation of women in sport in colonial and post-colonial Kenya and what changes led to a reduction in those discrepancies in the last three decades. This paper will argue that cultural limitations in different African societies and colonial policies which were highly patriarchal inhabited women's participation in athletics during the pre-colonial and colonial period. Nevertheless, from the 1980s the number of women started to increase significantly in different sporting spheres including athletics. This is attributed to positive change in advocacy, formal education, and inclusivity through government policies that gave women a better platform to excel in sports and athletics in general. The increase in institutions that acted as nurturing areas for sports such as schools, incorporation of women in the disciplined forces among others was instrumental in giving them an opportunity and resources to engage in various sporting activities just like their male counterparts. The study was informed by the patriarchal and feminists ideology theories to explain the gender issue in sports. On methodology, the paper will use primary sources of data, mainly oral interviews, Focus Group Discussion, and archival materials, as well as secondary sources to explain the representation of women in Kenyan sports.