"Heavyweight" men and younger women? The gendering of selection processes in Norwegian sport organizations

This article concentrates on discourses and practices concerning leadership selection in Norwegian sport organizations, how meanings of gender are made relevant and how these processes may contribute to build and rebuild organizational gender structures. The empirical material focuses on selection procedures and how these are discursively underpinned. The analyses revealed that the selection discourses were strongly related to images of corporate leadership skills: skills associated with "heroic" masculine traits, but seen as gender-neutral. Most female candidates were not regarded as sufficiently possessing the most preferred skills. The selection procedures seem to indicate a gendered political situation, where overall organizational objectives to promote gender equality are relatively subordinated.