The Construction of Gender in Sport: Women, Coaching, and the Naturalization of Difference

Analyses of the significance of sport to the construction of gender have for the most part concentrated on the practice or performance of sport. This article examines the construction of gender in the work of women coaches. Women coaches experience the marginalization common to token members of a workgroup. Their token status provides a context in which gender is highlighted through accounts of gender stressing the physical differences between men and women and the superiority of men's sporting experiences.