Microsoft Word - Kraft_Culver_Din_Cayer_Navigating_the_Labyrinth_of_Leadership_in_Sport_(clean version)Feb 16th, 2020.docx


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
VOLUME 40, 2021 
ISSN 1093-7099 
 
 
 
 
 

 
EDITORS: BEVERLY J. IRBY, BARBARA POLNICK, NAHED ABDELRAHMAN 
 

 
ADVANCING  
WOMEN IN 

LEADERSHIP 
 



Advancing Women in Leadership Journal-Volume 40                    13 

Advancing Women in Leadership Vol. 40, pp. 13-22, 2021 
Available online at http://www.awlj.org/ 
ISSN 1093-7099 
 
Full Length Research Paper 
 

Navigating the Labyrinth of Leadership in Sport: A Community  
of Practice of Femininity 

 
Erin Kraft, Diane M. Culver, Cari Din, & Isabelle Cayer 

 
Erin Kraft, School of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa, ekraf090@uottawa.ca 

Diane M. Culver, School of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa, dculver@uottawa.ca 
Cari Din, Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Calgary, csdin@ucalgary.ca 

Isabelle Caver, Coaching Association of Canada, icayer@coach.ca 
 

Accepted September 11, 2020 
 

 
The following qualitative study examines a social learning initiative to support the leadership development of women in sport. 
Specifically, a Community of Practice (CoP) of femininity was cultivated to inspire women (and male allies) to develop their 
leadership capacities in the male-focused and dominated field of sport. Data were generated from 12 sport leaders (10 women 
and two men) over a year and a half to collect their experiences of participating in this initiative. Data collection included 
interviews, observations, surveys, and informal discussions. Subsequently, the data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The 
themes discussed include: supports to develop confidence, improved leadership skills, self-awareness of leadership capacity and 
influence, increased leadership opportunities, men supporting women in leadership development, and the value of social 
learning. The findings provide steps that can be used to nurture women leaders in other fields where masculinity is dominant. 
This may allow other CoPs of femininity to emerge to support women in their leadership development. 
 
Keywords: leadership development; community of practice; sport; social learning 
 

Introduction 

When it comes to leadership positions, it is promising to note the 
progress women have made in several fields such as business 
and politics (Lyness & Grotto, 2018). Women are now securing 
positions of power in many private and public sector 
organizations (Rhodes, 2017). This progress for women in 
leadership is important for a variety of reasons. Women can see 
themselves reflected in roles with positional power when leaders 
are female. Role modelling and mentoring of women by women 
holds leadership development promise, when mentoring focuses 
on “helping women traverse the route to the top from role 
models they can identify with” and helps them achieve 
leadership success (Chrobot-Mason, Hoobler, & Burno, 2019, p. 
117). 

Research from a range of contexts and sectors clarifies the value 
and impact of having women in leadership positions. According 
to Goethals and Hyot (2017), women may apply different 
leadership strategies than men and bring unique perspectives to 
values and ethics when they lead. Despite knowing the evidence-
informed benefits of bestowing positional power to women in 
organizations, they continue to be underrepresented in 

government, education, and non-profit leadership positions 
(Madsen & Dahlvig, 2018). One key factor that restricts women 
from moving into leadership roles is their lack of access to 
meaningful and effective leadership development opportunities 
(Ely, Ibarra, & Kolb, 2011). 

Our purpose in this paper is to describe how access to a 
leadership development opportunity supported women sport 
leaders in building their leadership capacities, and the impact of 
this opportunity on male allies. Similar to other disciplines and 
fields, leadership opportunities for women in sport are limited. 
In some cases, such as head coach positions, there has actually 
been a decline in the number of women in these leadership roles 
in recent years (Acosta & Carpenter, 2019). Thus, studies 
examining development opportunities to promote and retain 
women in sport leadership positions are needed. The research 
question which guided our inquiry is: How is leadership learned 
using a Community of Practice (CoP) approach and a two and a 
half year initiative focused on improving leadership skills and 
capacities for women in sport? The next section delves into 
social learning theory (CoPs) and how this theory informs the 
project of focus specifically and leadership and sport broadly.   



Advancing Women in Leadership Journal-Volume 40                     14 

Barriers to Leadership Development 

According to Mate, McDonald, and Do (2018), women 
experience barriers to leadership development opportunities 
through both covert and overt instances of discrimination in 
male-dominated organizations. The discrimination that inhibits 
women’s career advancement opportunities is prevalent across 
several fields including healthcare, academic, and business 
(Kalaitzi, Czabanowska, Fowler-Davis, & Brand, 2017), despite 
the evidence showing that offering women leadership 
opportunities may increase the productivity of an organization 
(Coleman, 2010). This access barrier was originally referred to 
as the glass ceiling, an invisible impediment preventing women 
from attaining leadership roles. More recently, this phenomenon 
has been labelled in the literature as the labyrinth of leadership. 
Eagly and Carli (2007) describe this metaphor as “passage 
through a labyrinth is not simple or direct, but requires 
persistence, awareness of one’s progress, and a careful analysis 
of the puzzles that lie ahead… for women who aspire to top 
leadership, routes exist but are full of twists and turns, both 
unexpected and expected” (para.6). Although the labyrinth may 
exist regardless of whether women have access to leadership 
development opportunities or not, having access to these 
opportunities could at the very least prepare women for 
navigation through the labyrinth. Literature exploring women’s 
experiences developing their leadership capacities and how to 
effectively develop women leaders remains scarce (Gipson, 
Pfaff, Mendelsohn, Catenacci, & Burke, 2017); it is a central 
focus of our inquiry. The purpose of this paper is to describe and 
examine a social learning initiative framed to develop the 
leadership skills and capacities of 10 women leaders in sport. 

Women’s Leadership in Sport 

Women in sport experience many challenges along their paths to 
reaching leadership positions, because sport is a deeply gendered 
space where women are often considered the “other” (Burton, 
2019). When a dominant group defines, diminishes, and 
disempowers another group we witness othering.  Groups who 
are othered are reduced to subordinate status relative to the in-
group or those in power (Jensen, 2011). Through the process of 
othering, women experience discrimination in many forms, for 
example, when women are not provided with the same 
organizational resources that their male colleagues can access, 
they experience treatment discrimination (Greenhaus, 
Parasurman, & Wormley, 1990). Treatment discrimination and 
the negative stereotypes associated with women in sport impact 
how they are viewed and limit their access to leadership 
opportunities (Sartore & Cunningham, 2007). In addition to 
these negative perceptions of women, LaVoi, Baeth, and 
Calhoun (2019) explain that in some cases, men hold gatekeeper 
positions in sport and decide who will have access to leadership 
in sport programs. Gatekeepers control access to resources and 
experiences in a group – they determine who is welcomed and 
who is denied access to positions in a group. When gatekeepers 
in sport organizations are male, they are more inclined to give 
leadership opportunities to other men (Taylor & Hardin, 2016). 

To address the barriers to leadership development and positions 
for women in sport, a social learning initiative was framed to 
support women in sport organizations through access to 
leadership development opportunities not otherwise available to 
them. We describe this initiative, the Alberta Women in Sport 
Leadership Impact Program (AWiSL), in the following section. 

Alberta Women in Sport Leadership Impact Program  

In 2017, the AWiSL received a grant from the federal 
government (Women and Gender Equality) to develop a 
program to increase gender equity and leadership diversity 
across the province of Alberta, Canada. To frame this initiative, 
the program lead initiated a social learning approach, more 
specifically a CoP (Wenger, 1998). One of the aims of this 
program was to provide 10 women and two male allies, (the 12 
were universally referred to as sport leaders in this project and 
paper) from various sport organizations, with leadership 
development opportunities. In addition, each of the 12 sport 
leaders was tasked with developing and implementing a project 
in their sport organizations aimed at increasing gender equity. 
Examples of these projects included implementing a women’s-
only coach developer program to increase the number of female 
coach developers, and facilitating women’s-only clinics and 
training opportunities for coaches and referees. Six mentors were 
also a part of this CoP and played an important role in 
supporting the sport leaders and each other in developing their 
leadership capacities. These mentors also worked with the sport 
leaders to facilitate the achievement of their specific gender 
equity project goals. The CoP met approximately once a month 
for two and one-half years, both in person and online. These 
meetings included professional development activities, check-
ins, and informal discussions. Example topics from these 
meetings included workshops on presentation skills, unconscious 
biases, and the skill of confidence. Learning opportunities 
focused on developing communication and time management 
skills were also included over the span of this CoP. In addition to 
the group meetings, one of the mentors facilitated a leadership 
skill-development online course in which a small number of the 
sport leaders and other mentors opted to participate. This group 
met regularly to learn about evidence-informed leadership best 
practices, to read and discuss leadership literature, to identify 
and live into their core values, and engage in other social 
learning activities to develop their leadership skills.  

Theoretical Framework 

Communities of Practice – Social Learning Theory 

The CoP approach was originally presented by Jean Lave and 
Etienne Wenger in Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral 
participation (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Wenger subsequently 
took a deep dive into the concepts in his 1998 text Communities 
of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. CoPs are described 
as a group of people who engage in learning because they care to 
make a difference. More specifically,  

Members of a community of practice may engage in the 
same practice while working on different tasks in 



Advancing Women in Leadership Journal-Volume 40                     15 

different teams. But they can still learn together. A 
learning partnership around a practice is a different 
structuring process than working on a joint task 
(Farnsworth, Kleanthous & Wenger-Trayner, 2016, 
p.143).  

CoPs have been used for many purposes and in many fields 
including medical education (Cruess, Cruess, & Steinert, 2018), 
teacher education (Trust & Horrocks, 2017), business (Harris, 
James, & Harris, 2017), and sport (Bertram, Culver, & Gilbert, 
2016). A CoP offers a site for knowledge sharing and developing 
and improving practice among other goals. In our case, the 
ongoing interactions between the AWiSL CoP members were 
focused on developing the sport leaders’ leadership capacities 
and increasing gender equity across the region. In the next 
section, we discuss gendered CoPs and what this means for 
leadership CoPs.  

CoPs of Masculinity and Femininity 

According to Paetchter (2003) CoPs are aligned with 
masculinities or femininities because knowledge and power are 
associated with the masculine or feminine. Burkinshaw (2015) 
builds on this point by explaining that roles in the workplace 
have specific gender expectations. For example, CoPs in higher 
education and leadership are generally CoPs of masculinity 
because of the underrepresentation of women in higher 
education and leadership. That is not to say that women are not 
present in these CoPs, rather they are predominantly populated 
with men, and leadership is generally associated with 
masculinity (Burkinshaw, 2015). As a result, women experience 
challenges in leadership CoPs: “Women are disadvantaged and 
disorientated within leadership communities of practice of 
masculinities. Often women doing leadership means many 
women face a contradiction between their identities that arise 
from societal roles and contexts” (p. 39). Burkinshaw (2015) 
continues that in higher education and leadership CoPs, there is a 
constant negotiation of meaning. Women are negotiating the 
meaning of being a leader while facing a misalignment with 
their feminine identity. Sport is also very much associated with 
the masculine. Burton and Leberman (2017) argue that “all 
processes in sport operate within a shared understanding of sport 
as masculine” (p.19). So, how do we nurture a CoP to develop 
women leaders when both leadership and sport are associated 
with the masculine? In this program and our research, we have 
deliberately fostered a CoP of femininity to enable women sport 
leaders to develop their leadership capacities in a setting that 
predominantly focused on women and women’s needs. 
Acknowledging that sport and leadership align with the 
masculine, we intentionally developed a CoP of femininity. We 
believed this could empower women to negotiate their identities 
and develop leadership skills without being obligated to replicate 
male leadership characteristics. Our design and facilitation of 
this CoP was focused on supporting women sport leaders in 
building the characteristics they sought in service of becoming 
successful leaders.  

 

Methods 

This study was conducted using a qualitative inquiry approach 
and aligned with a constructivist lens. Both the participants and 
the researchers played active roles in co-constructing realities 
(Lincoln, Lynham, & Guba, 2018) as they were able to meet and 
discuss the sport leaders’ experiences in the CoP on several 
occasions over the year and a half period.  

Participants 

As mentioned above, 12 sport leaders (10 women, two men) 
participated in the CoP evaluation. Initially, the CoP consisted of 
15 sport leaders, but three leaders had to end their participation 
for reasons such as employment changes. All participants held 
an administrative position at a sport organization, with positions 
ranging from coaching development coordinator to executive 
director. The types of organizations also ranged from regional 
sport organizations, to multisport organizations, to sport clubs.  

Data Collection 

In 2018, two researchers were invited to conduct a program 
evaluation of the AWiSL CoP to assess leadership development, 
gender equity change, and knowledge transfer. In this paper, we 
focus on the leadership development piece. Upon receiving 
ethics approval from the University’s research and ethics board, 
the researchers sent a recruitment text to the lead of the CoP to 
distribute to the sport leaders. The primary researcher then 
attended a CoP meeting and received signed consent forms from 
all interested participants. Data collection began in 2018 and 
continued over a year and a half. Although data were collected 
from the sport leaders and mentors during the project, the data 
included and analyzed in this paper are solely from the 
perspective of the sport leaders, focusing on their experiences in 
a CoP of femininity.  

The majority of sport leaders participated in an initial survey, 
two semi-structured interviews (that were conducted one year 
apart) as well as a number of informal interviews and 
discussions with the primary researcher. A few sport leaders 
were not able to participate for the full duration of the AWiSL 
initiative. The researchers did however retain the data collected 
from those participants and have included their accounts in this 
study. Examples of interview questions included: Did you 
engage in any memorable conversations/interactions with others 
from the CoP (mentors/sport leaders) which may have impacted 
your leadership development? Did this program allow you to 
take on any additional leadership opportunities/roles? The 
primary researcher also participated in several of the CoP 
meetings and took field notes to supplement the survey and 
interview data. In addition, a small group of sport leaders, 
mentors, and the primary researcher participated in the above-
mentioned opt-in opportunity called the Leadership Legacy 
course. The course meetings were usually hosted online, and the 
group had on-going interactions via Slack (an online 
collaboration hub) where they could engage asynchronously in 
discussions, share resources, create threads for sharing books or 
podcasts or other relevant information mainly related to 



Advancing Women in Leadership Journal-Volume 40                     16 

leadership. The primary researcher participated in a number of 
these meetings and used the Slack channel to collect additional 
observational data on the sport leaders’ experiences with 
leadership development. The researchers chose to engage with 
various data sources to capture the richness of the sport leaders’ 
experiences in a CoP of femininity for leadership development.  

Data Analysis 

Data were analyzed iteratively and inductively throughout data 
collection using Braun, Clarke, and Weate’s (2016) six-phase 
guide to thematic analysis. This guide was chosen as it has 
“entered the ‘cannon’ as a recognizable and reputable method of 
qualitative analysis” (p. 191) and has been used in previous 
research focused on leadership in sport (Slater, Barker, Coffee, 
& Jones, 2015). The six phases include phases 1-2: 
familiarization and coding, phases 3-5: theme development, 
refinement, and naming, and phase 6: writing up. The primary 
researcher was responsible for collecting most data, which she 
sent to graduate students to transcribe verbatim or used NVivo 
transcription software, resulting in 260 pages of transcriptions. 
After familiarizing herself with the transcripts, she engaged with 
the other forms of collected data, such as surveys, observations 
notes, and field notes. Although the interviews accounted for the 
majority of the data, Mathison (1998) suggested using other 
sources to triangulate the data and explore any convergences, 
inconsistencies, and contradictions that occurred. Following, the 
primary researcher developed initial codes which she then 
discussed with the second author. Examples of these codes 
included: confidence, leadership development, organizational 
supports, barriers, male allies, social learning, and knowledge 
transfer. The authors then collaborated on the development, 
refinement, and naming of themes. Considering data were 
collected and analyzed over a year and a half, new codes were 
constantly generated, and preliminary themes were developed as 
new data were introduced. Specifically, the authors reviewed the 
transcripts and codes for instances of leadership development 
and examples (positive and negative) of the sport leaders’ 
experiences participating in a CoP of femininity. The themes 
were then adjusted overtime as the sport leaders continued to 
develop their leadership capacities. These adjustments were 
necessary to ensure the themes continued to be reflective of the 
sport leaders’ experiences as they evolved during their 
participation in CoP activities. The write up was also an iterative 
process as data were used to write a series of focused papers on 
this program (e.g., Culver, Kraft, Cayer, & Din, 2019; Culver, 
Kraft, & Cayer, 2020; Kraft & Culver, 2020; Kraft, Culver, & 
Din, 2020).  

Research Quality 

The use of the term validity for assessing the quality of 
qualitative research has long been contested (Eisner, 1991) as it 
is argued that this notion is fundamentally aligned with 
quantitative research and that qualitative data may continuously 
be reinterpreted (Angen, 2000), therefore rendering “validity” an 
ill fit. According to Lincoln, Lynham, and Guba (2011), criteria 
to determine the so-called “validity” of research should be 

relative to the case. Thus, the authors aligned with a relativist 
approach to develop criteria that were relevant to the research at 
hand. Burke (2016) suggests a list of criteria that may be suitable 
for research in sport and exercise, of which the following were 
deemed appropriate for the current research on women in sport 
leadership: substantive contribution, width, and credibility. As 
mentioned above, sport and leadership are generally associated 
with masculinity; in our research, we have created a substantive 
contribution by developing a CoP that aligns with femininity. 
The activities and interactions were not geared towards 
replicating typical, masculine leadership styles, but rather 
supporting women in developing their leadership skills and 
capacities relative to their own needs. As for width, the primary 
researcher conducted a survey, interviewed the participants both 
formally and informally, monitored the Slack channel, and 
engaged in numerous in-person discussions and conversations 
with the sport leaders. This immersion into the CoP, allowed the 
researcher to collect numerous accounts and narratives of the 
sport leaders’ experiences with the CoP of femininity to 
substantiate the interpretations of the data. Finally, the 
researchers gained considerable credibility with the CoP. One 
author was the lead of this project, one was a mentor and led the 
Leadership Legacy course, and two of the authors became 
immersed in the program through attending the online and in-
person CoP activities over a period of a year and a half.  

 

Findings and Discussion 

In this section, we present the six major themes that reflect and 
describe the sport leaders’ experiences participating in a CoP of 
femininity to develop their leadership skills and capacities. 
These themes are: supports to develop confidence, improved 
leadership skills, self-awareness of leadership capacity and 
influence, increased leadership opportunities, men supporting 
women in leadership development, and the value of social 
learning. We discuss these themes in relation to current literature 
to contextualize our findings. 

Supports to develop confidence 

 Many of the women credited the CoP activities and 
opportunities to engage in leadership discussions with like-
minded women and male allies, as a contributor to their 
increased confidence. Jane explains: 

I definitely would say I have more confidence now. I 
think we had a lot of opportunities to stand up in front 
of a group of people and talk about something that we 
were passionate about in a lot of different formats. Lots 
of those were formally prepared, lots of them were 
informal. So, I have a lot more confidence maybe kind 
of speaking like my truth or what’s important to me. 
That’s another thing I think I really took away [from the 
CoP]… the thing about our presentations and our slides 
and not having a lot of words and how when you stand 
up there you should just be talking from your heart or 
talk about what’s important to you. And I think even 



Advancing Women in Leadership Journal-Volume 40                     17 

outside of just presenting, I can take that to my every 
day when I’m in meetings or when I’m in different 
groups just talking about like, what I know or what I 
believe in more confidently. 

In Rebecca’s experience, she had previously described herself as 
an introvert. But being a part of a group of individuals who 
supported her growth, enabled her to gain more confidence in 
herself: 

I definitely have prospered from it; the confidence I 
guess is the big one knowing that the social aspect for 
me, it’s confidence. And I’m quite an introvert, so to be 
put into that position where I have to…I have to 
socialize, and I have to do that it’s been very beneficial 
in that sense. It’s forced me to get out of the shell a bit. 

Karen mirrors this sentiment, feeling that not only has her 
confidence grown, but her identification with the term leader: “I 
did not view myself as a leader before, I think the change in me 
is profound and my confidence has grown so much. I have a 
real, truer perspective and, I think, appreciation of the value I 
can bring… Yeah, it’s been huge for me”. In Wenger’s (1998) 
CoP text, identity is a key element in negotiating and developing 
one’s practice. Karen’s quote captures the augmented alignment 
between her identity and leadership, stemming from her 
increased confidence. This seems to differ from women’s 
previous experiences in CoPs of masculinity, where their 
identities and leadership created an internal conflict. According 
to Burkinshaw and White (2017): “in order to ‘fit in’ women 
were continually walking a tightrope because of the exclusionary 
structures and practices embodied through communities of 
practice of masculinities that made their leadership much more 
precarious than was the case for male colleagues” (p. 7). For the 
women in this CoP of femininity, they were not faced with the 
same tension of attempting to align with masculinity, when this 
was not authentic to their values. Although many leadership 
traits are often seen as masculine, the sport leaders were in a 
space where they could build their confidence and develop 
leadership skills that aligned with their personal values, rather 
than trying to ‘fit in’ to a role. Further to their identity 
development, the increase in the sport leaders’ overall 
confidence may play a key role in their access to future 
opportunities. Mathipa and Tsoka (2001) explain that confidence 
is a possible barrier in the advancement of women into 
leadership positions and that, “Confidence is important in 
leadership because performance is based on it. Confidence 
actually drives performances” (p. 327). By supporting these 
women in building their confidence, they may have gained the 
necessary self-perception to take on future leadership roles. 

Improved leadership skills 

 In addition to feeling more confident in themselves and 
their leadership capacities, many of the women touched on the 
specific skills they developed as a result of their participation in 
the CoP. Ellen discussed the changes in her communication 
skills: 

I’ve definitely developed on the communication side, 
again just always being reminded how important 
communication is and the way you communicate, and 
[that] different people will respond in different ways. 
And communication, I know I’ve kind of always 
considered a strength of mine and relationship building, 
but at the same time, I feel like I’ve developed more of 
a professionalism over the last two years. And knowing, 
like I used to get offended really easily and now I’ll sit 
back and listen and be like ‘OK is this really something 
to be offended about? Or respond to? Or do I just kind 
of let this one go?’ 

Earlier this year, Ellen was unexpectedly placed into a new 
leadership position in her sport organization. Because Ellen was 
prepared with important new leadership skills, this sudden 
change gave her the opportunity to effectively put them into 
action: 

Actually, just recently, just before our last meeting took 
place, my supervisor was let go and I was then 
assuming the role of the head of our [sport] department. 
So, there were a lot of pieces in there about 
communication and leadership and organization that I 
had to put into practice right away. 

Susan’s job included using her communication skills to have 
discussions with different groups across the sport system. By 
participating in the CoP, she gained a sense of support from the 
women and male allies, which enabled her to become more 
confident talking about gender equity and refined her 
communication skills: 

I think it has increased my competency to just kind of 
take tasks head on. We’re actually doing meetings with 
every league, so it’s my job right now. I’m going up to 
every one of our leagues and discussing exciting stuff 
like bylaws, regulations, and policies to make sure they 
understand [the importance of gender equity]. 
Sometimes I might have been intimidated a bit to do 
that.… go into these groups or talking about the females 
in the sport and coaching and why it’s important.  

Danielle found that her communication style improved across 
her time participating in the CoP and she is now more secure in 
her leadership style. She also attributed a higher effectiveness 
across her team to this improvement in her communication 
skills. 

Just in everyday interactions with our team. I think the 
biggest thing it has made me more comfortable in my 
authentic leadership style, which is huge… because I 
am communicating better with the team, upwards and 
downwards like all the way around, three-sixty. Yeah, 
we are more effective as a team. And personally, yes 
because it makes me feel more confident and 
comfortable in who I am. 



Advancing Women in Leadership Journal-Volume 40                     18 

Another sport leader (Jane) found that her access to new 
leadership skills also had an impact on her role in her 
organization. She expressed that some of these new skills were 
not anticipated: 

So, I got really unexpected things I think from 
participating in [the CoP]. I think presentation skills 
were really big one. I think also leadership skills 
because we had that opportunity to work so closely 
with [one of the mentors] through the Leadership 
Legacy group. We also did really great work with 
Brené Brown’s work in giving us little projects to kind 
of focus on more of… the connection side of 
leadership, which I think is often undervalued or 
ignored but has a really big impact on my work. 

Previous literature has suggested that leadership CoPs produce 
and reproduce hegemonic masculinity (Karatas-Özkan & Chell, 
2015). However, we can see in this case, that the women were 
able to develop leadership skills that are not necessarily a 
reproduction of hegemonic skills, but skills that aligned with 
their authentic leadership styles. For the sport leaders, 
developing their communication skills was important for their 
workplaces. In a CoP of masculinity, developing strong and 
confident communication skills may not be considered a priority, 
but for women, a lack of assertiveness has been identified as a 
barrier in sport (Allen & Shaw, 2009; Kilty, 2006) and therefore 
those skills are important. As mentioned in Jane’s quote, another 
strategy that was appreciated by the sport leaders was the use of 
resources from other well-known women leaders (including 
Brené Brown, 2018) to support their specific development needs 
as women. 

Self-awareness of leadership capacity and influence 

As mentioned above, leadership (especially in sport) is often 
associated with masculinity. Kristen experienced considerable 
backlash from other sport organizations (particularly from men) 
while leading a new sport program. However, she realized that 
despite the struggles she endured, she knew that by pushing 
through and maintaining her leadership role, she would inspire 
other women to do the same: 

Because I was a female leader heading [the program], I 
think my role inspired other women. I actually heard 
that a lot from other women. I even heard it from 
mothers who I would see [playing the sport] because 
we encourage parents to come because we need 
additional people to be at the end of the group…. So, 
we try to have a very inclusive program. And so, I 
noticed that a mom would say ‘you’re the one that 
inspired me to get into [the sport]; I haven’t [played] 
since I was young’. So, I think I never really thought of 
myself as a leader. I knew I was beginning a group, but 
I thought of it more as an organizer type of a leader. I 
didn’t know that I was a female leader that people 
looked up to. 

Similar, to Kristen, Amanda did not recognize the importance of 
her influence in a leadership role prior to her participation in the 
CoP. By developing a newfound awareness, she knew that she 
could use her influence to keep pushing gender equity forward in 
sport: 

I think now I understand a little bit more just the impact 
I have within our organization. So, it was still the same 
role, but understanding that, you know, my behavior or 
the words I use has an impact on the people around me 
every day. So, understanding that piece of it, then I 
guess just making sure that we’re always working 
towards pushing [gender equity] forward and not taking 
for granted the opportunity that we have to develop 
things right now. 

In Karen’s experience, she became more aware of her reactions 
to others. She deliberately reflected on her reactions and 
changed her actions to enhance her leadership role as a female 
sport leader: 

Well, I think one thing that I’ve learned from [CoP 
mentors] for sure is really being self-aware and thinking 
about, you know, ‘Why am I feeling like this and why 
am I reacting like this? How do I want to react to this? 
How am I going to be the most effective kind of leader 
in this situation?’ So, I think those [are] very specific 
practical tools. So, here is where I am. ‘Why am I 
feeling like this?’ You know, ‘how can I adjust and 
head in a better direction?’ So yeah, I think just sort of 
practical everyday kind of tools and thought processes 
to put into place. I think it has made me more effective 
in my role. 

The sport leaders described a heightened awareness of their 
influence and how they believe it inspired others in their 
organizations and other women. Kane (2016) suggests the 
absence of women in leadership roles can create a vicious cycle 
for other women:  

One could even argue that the lack of women in 
leadership roles sets up a classic Catch-22 dynamic. 
Research has shown that under circumstances of 
insufficient information – which is certainly the case if 
we don’t see or experience women as leaders – people 
rely on traditional (stereotypic) notions about gender 
and leadership capacities (p.37-38).  

This organizational dynamic reinforces the masculinization of 
leadership roles and upholds gendered beliefs about who should 
lead, thus perpetuating discrimination against women and 
keeping them out of positions of authority and power. 

Increased leadership opportunities 

The women in the CoP proudly described their increased 
confidence and leadership skills which they see serving them 
well in their futures in sport. It is vital to note, many women in 
this study took these skills and confidence and secured new 
leadership opportunities they may not have otherwise had as a 



Advancing Women in Leadership Journal-Volume 40                     19 

result of their participation in this two and a half year CoP of 
femininity. For example, Ellen’s opportunity to move up to a 
new leadership role appeared quickly after joining the CoP: 

I mean being part of this Community of Practice, my 
first year in this role I was standing in front of our 
entire group of Athletic Directors and board and 
executives presenting on the importance of developing 
female coaches in all of our sport. And without this 
Community of Practice, I would not have been in a 
position to do that. I would have just been a body sitting 
around the table raising my hands to vote every once in 
a while. 

Rebecca was also recognized as a leader in her organization and 
was entrusted with running her gender equity project on her 
own. Today, she is the primary point of contact for a women’s 
mentorship program: 

Yeah… I’ve been able to take the project and 
completely run with it. So, the fact where everybody 
just refers back to me with any questions. Whereas 
before I went to the meeting and presented and it was 
still kind of a shared project. 

Hayley described a similar experience, where she was originally 
part of a larger collaborative group running her sport’s regional 
gender equity project. She was then supported by her CEO to 
take on a leadership role and ownership of this project with one 
other colleague:  

So, my role evolved with the organization. You know at 
first, we’re like cool here are these projects and it was 
like I…had a hand in it. And then [the CEO] was like 
‘you know what, I don’t, I can’t own this. I need you to 
own this with [a second sport leader] supporting’. So, I 
think for both [the sport leader] and I, we were able to 
then dive into our academic backgrounds, our previous 
and current experiences of being in school and being 
able to talk to researchers. You know it was just 
something that wouldn’t have happened otherwise or at 
least not within this timeline. 

The sport leaders felt that having the support of the CoP enabled 
them to take on additional leadership opportunities in their own 
sport organizations. This mirrors other initiatives supporting 
women in sport. For example, in the United States, there is the 
Alliance of Women Coaches, which is an organization that 
supports women as they develop as leaders (LaVoi, 2014). On a 
global scale, there is the Women’s Sport Leadership Academy 
which aims “to be a central point of reference for scholars and 
activists involved with women and sport, and to support the 
education and development of women leaders from countries 
where women face particular challenges” (Pike, White, 
Matthews, Southon, & Piggott, 2018, p.812). Having this kind of 
community available in Canada supports another group of 
women in developing these skills to take on leadership 
opportunities. It is also important that the sport organization 
recognizes the sport leaders’ leadership skills and capacities. 

Kilty (2006) explains that women have felt that they have been 
passed over for leadership opportunities for “exhibiting an 
atypical/unfamiliar leadership style” (p.224). This is another 
reason to have a leadership network of supportive women and 
male allies to provide additional credibility to the sport leaders’ 
skills and capacities.  

Men supporting women in leadership development 

Although the CoP was primarily focused on developing 
women’s leadership capacities and skills, two men chose to 
participate in the CoP to support women in leadership. Shawn 
acknowledged that: “For me as a guy in the room, one of the few 
guys in the room, there is tremendous personal learning for me”. 
This shows that the CoP was also an important learning 
opportunity for men. The male sport leaders also shared their 
experiences working in an androcentric field and identified some 
of the work that still needs to be done to promote more women 
in leadership. Shawn described the stereotypes that he sees in 
sport: 

If a guy screws something up, he screwed it up. You 
know, Tim or Johnny screwed it up. Whereas when a 
woman screws it up in high level sport it’s ‘that woman 
screwed it up’. And it’s a gender thing, it’s not, it’s not 
an individual, it’s the gender. She screwed it up, ‘I told 
you, women can’t be at this level and they don’t know 
what they’re doing’. And so that dynamic, I think is, for 
me… teaching men just some of the differences in the 
approaches [to support women in leadership] … and 
maybe some different applications for how we enable, 
support, inspire, and sponsor our women leaders. 

Shawn had recently moved to a different region and expressed 
that he was seeing the same barriers for women in leadership all 
over the country: 

It’s amazing having moved across the country from the 
Alberta Program in the challenges that we’re facing and 
trying to address with the projects out there, and 
listening to some of the challenges out here that our 
organization is hearing; and trying to plan out the 
projects this week, they are so similar…  It’s interesting 
to me, similar organizations, but the two sides of the 
country and how the rhetoric is very similar in looking 
at these sort of leadership projects and the need for 
them. 

The second male who was part of this project, Paul, was able to 
leverage his participation in the CoP to support more women in 
leadership roles and hoped that this would lead to future 
generations of women enriching sport through positions of 
authority and power: 

We were able to push to the point where we now have 
these two women as certified learning facilitators who 
are now going to be able to go in and deliver a course, 
which we’ve not been in a position to do before. So, for 
us, it has helped push that agenda forward. By putting 



Advancing Women in Leadership Journal-Volume 40                     20 

these two women in a role where they will now have 
influence over this generation; that’s next. You know, 
for example, generations of [women] coaches coming 
in by virtue of the fact that we have them certified and 
they’re going to go deliver that course. It was all really 
through the support and the interest behind it from this 
program. 

The male allies in this CoP developed a strong understanding of 
the gender inequities that exist in sport and may use their 
leadership positions to promote and support women in 
leadership. In recent literature, Kraft, Culver, and Din (2020), 
also found that strong male allies played an important role by 
leveraging their leadership in sport organizations to support 
women in breaking down barriers in sports culture. LaVoi and 
Wasend (2018) also highlighted the significance of having male 
and female allies in sport organizations to create a climate where 
women are supported and valued and have the opportunities to 
secure leadership roles, such as head coach positions.  

The value of social learning 

The sport leaders expressed the value of participating in a CoP 
of femininity which enabled them to achieve their goals and 
develop their leadership capacities. Caitlyn considered the CoP 
to be important in making her feel like she was not alone in her 
journey to develop as a leader in sport and push for gender 
equity: 

Honestly, I sometimes feel like the [CoP] is like a big 
support group. And so, for me, the confidence comes 
from knowing, I sound really cheesy, but from knowing 
that I’m not alone and that this is something that others 
value. And so, it’s not me being idealistic or, self-
serving isn’t the right word, but it’s helpful to know 
that there are other people who are fighting the same 
things… [this] adds credibility to what I’m doing. 

Shawn builds on this by sharing his appreciation for having a 
group of women leaders together working to overcome their 
shared challenges: “I think the power of the community is in 
getting of bunch of motivated female leaders in the room and 
getting them working together, and hearing the commonalities 
between their challenges”. Finally, Karen found considerable 
value in meeting with a group of like-minded individuals to 
build connections and learn from the various opportunities the 
CoP offered: 

I think that coming together and actually being able to 
be together in person, you have like those real 
comfortable one-on-one conversations and learning 
concepts together. All of that really kind of bonds you. 
Another one would be the optional offerings like the 
leadership courses and stuff. Those are kind of 
interesting too because it was a different way to learn 
from each other, but in a smaller group setting… with a 
specific focus. 

Ten years ago, in a session conducted by Dr. Penny Werthner, 
women coaches were asked to describe why there was a lack of 
women coaching at the national level. One participating coach 
mentioned that “the best aspect of the session was hearing the 
voices of other female coaches – voices that she noted were a 
silent minority when they gathered at her sport organization 
meeting” (Werthner, Culver, & Mercier, 2010, p.49). We found 
similar accounts from both the women and the men participating 
in this CoP of femininity. There was great value in having a 
group of women and male allies come together to create a space 
for underrepresented voices in sport leadership to be heard and 
strengthened. 

Implications and Conclusion 

The results of this study provide insight into sport leaders’ 
experiences participating in a CoP of femininity for leadership 
development. This two and one-half year experience enabled 
them to negotiate and identify the meaning of leadership, rather 
than participating in a CoP of leadership that explicitly or 
implicitly reproduces characteristics of masculinity. The 
implications of this study highlight that women may be 
supported in their leadership development through a CoP that 
aligns with concepts of leadership as they pertain to women. 
Organizations, including sport, education, medicine, and others, 
may consider replicating a similar social learning initiative to 
enable women (and male allies) to engage in ongoing learning 
opportunities to support each other in their leadership 
development journeys. Specifically, the authors recommend that 
similar initiatives are carefully designed and facilitated in male-
dominated contexts like sport. Framing CoPs of femininity could 
disrupt the othering and gatekeeping features of organizations 
where women are diminished and prevented access to leadership 
positions. The CoP of femininity we co-created with sport 
leaders in this project positively impacted participants’ 
leadership development. We imagine similar impacts in unique 
contexts are possible based on our collective experience of this 
social learning initiative. 
 
We recommend framing a CoP of femininity in relation to the 
needs and projects participants identify and seek support for 
implementing in their unique context. More specifically, the lead 
of this initiative made a point of relying on the sport leaders to 
drive the selection of activities (workshops, presentations, etc.) 
the CoP undertook based on their specific and changing needs. 
This enabled the sport leaders to develop leadership skills that 
were relevant to their own contexts, rather than hyper-masculine 
and hegemonic skills that are typically associated with 
leadership and sport. The authors recommend readers to (Culver 
et al., 2019; Kraft et al., 2020) for practical insight into the inner 
workings of this CoP including specific activities used to 
facilitate and promote learning, challenges, and lessons learned. 
An example learning activity CoP participants engaged in was 
an interactive workshop on unconscious biases, which is 
suggested as an important topic in women’s leadership 
development opportunities (Madsen & Andrade, 2018). The 
authors also suggest reading (Culver et al., 2020; Kraft & 



Advancing Women in Leadership Journal-Volume 40                     21 

Culver, 2020) for additional information about social learning 
theory. More specifically, to host an effective CoP, learning how 
to frame, facilitate, and assess this type of social learning 
initiative is important. Finally, this study primarily used the 
perceptions of the sport leaders for data collection. Future 
iterations of this research may include collecting accounts from 
those who work with the sport leaders to further support (or 
oppose) the accounts of the sport leaders’ development, 
including more men. 
 
Considering women are still faced with a number of barriers 
when accessing leadership development opportunities and 
leadership positions in sport, it is important to create nurturing 
environments to support women in their growth. Although we 
have seen positive trends in the number of women securing 
leadership positions in many fields, the balance remains uneven. 
In Canadian sport, only 39% of sport board member positions 
are currently held by women (Canadian Women & Sport, 2020). 
The nurturing of CoPs of femininity for developing women 
leaders in the androcentric field of sport shows there is potential 
to even the playing field, empower women in leadership, and 
inspire future generations of women leaders. 

 
References 

Acosta, R.V. & Carpenter, L.J. (2014). Women in intercollegiate 
sport: A longitudinal study – thirty-seven year update – 
1977-2014. Unpublished manuscript, Brooklyn College, 
Brooklyn, NY. 

Allen, J.B. & Shaw, S. (2009). Women coaches’ perceptions of 
their sport organizations’ social environment: Supporting 
coaches’ psychological needs? The Sport Psychologist, 
23(3), 346-366. 

Angen, M.J. (2000). Evaluating interpretive inquiry: Reviewing 
the validity debate and opening the dialogue. Qualitative 
Health Research, 10(3), 378-395. 

Bertram, R., Culver, D., & Gilbert, W. (2016). Creating value in 
a sport coaching community of practice: A collaborative 
inquiry. International Sport Coaching Journal, 3(1), 2-16. 

Braun, V., Clarke, V., & Weate, P. (2016). Using thematic 
analysis in sport and exercise research. In B. Smith & C. 
Sparkes (Eds.), Routledge handbook of qualitative 
research in sport and exercise (pp.191-205). New York, 
NY: Routledge. 

Brown, B. (2018). Dare to lead: Daring greatly and rising 
strong at work. New York, NY: Random House.  

Burke, S. (2016). Rethinking ‘validity’ and ‘trustworthiness’ in 
qualitative inquiry. In B. Smith & C. Sparkes (Eds.), 
Routledge handbook of qualitative research in sport and 
exercise (pp. 330-339). New York, NY: Routledge. 

Burkinshaw, P. (2015). Higher education, leadership and 
women vice chancellors: Fitting into communities of 
practice of masculinities. New York, NY: Palgrave 
Macmillan. 

Burkinshaw, P. & White, K. (2017). Fixing the women or fixing 
the universities: Women in HE leadership. Administrative 
Sciences, 7(3), 1-14. 

Burton, L.J. (2019). Under-representation of women in 
leadership roles in women’s sport. In N. Lough & A.N. 
Geuin (Ed.), Routledge handbook of the business of 
women’s sport (pp. 255-268). New York, NY: Routledge.  

Burton, L.J. & Leberman, S. (2017). Routledge research in sport 
business and management. New York, NY: Routledge. 

Canadian Women & Sport. (2020). Women in sport leadership: 
2020 snapshot. Available at 
https://womenandsport.ca/wp-
content/uploads/2020/03/Women-in-Leadership-
Snapshot_2019-2020_Canadian-Women-Sport.pdf 

Chrobot-Mason, D., Hoobler, J. M., & Burno, J. (2019). Lean in 
versus the literature: An evidence-based 
examination. Academy of Management 
Perspectives, 33(1), 110–130.  

Coleman, I. (2010). The glass ceiling: Why empowering women 
is good for business. Foreign Affairs, 89(3), 13-20. 

Cruess, R.L., Cruess, S.R., & Steinert, Y. (2018). Medicine as a 
community of practice: Implications for medical 
education. Journal of the Association of American 
Medical Colleges, 93(2), 185-191. 

Culver, D.M., Kraft, E., Cayer, I., & Din, C. (2019). The Alberta 
women in sport leadership project: A social learning 
intervention for gender equity, leadership development, 
and knowledge transfer. Women in Sport and Physical 
Activity Journal, 27(2), 110-117. 

Culver, D.M., Kraft, E., & Cayer, I. (2020). Nurturing social 
learning spaces to enhance women in sport leadership 
program. Canadian Journal for Women in Coaching, 
20(2), 1-9. 

Eagly, A. & Carli, L. L. (2007). Women and the labyrinth of 
leadership. Harvard Business Review, 85, 63-71. 

Ely, R. J, Ibarra, H., & Kolb, D. M. (2011). Taking gender into 
account: Theory and design for women's leadership 
development programs. Academy of Management 
Learning & Education, 10(3), 474–493. 

Eisner, E.W. (1991). The enlightened eye: Qualitative inquiry 
and the enhancement of educational practice. New York, 
NY: Macmillan. 

Farnsworth, V., Kleanthous, I., & Wenger-Trayner, E. (2016). 
Communities of practice as a social theory of learning: A 
conversation with Etienne Wenger. British Journal of 
Educational Studies, 64(2), 139-160. 

Gipson, A.N., Pfaff, D.L., Mendelsohn, D. B., Catenacci, L.T., 
& Burke, W.W. (2017). Women and leadership: 
Selection, development, leadership style, and 
performance. The Journal of Applied Behavioural 
Science, 53(1), 32-65. 

Goethals, G.R. & Hoyt, C.L. (2017). Women and leadership: 
History, theories, and case studies. Great Barrington, 
MA: Berkshire Publishing Group LLC. 

Greenhaus, J.H., Parasurman, S., & Wormley, W.M. (1990). 
Effects of race on organizational experience, job 
performance evaluations, and career outcomes. The 
Academy of Management Journal, 33(1), 64-86. 



Advancing Women in Leadership Journal-Volume 40                     22 

Harris, K.D., James, H.S., & Harris, A. (2017). Cooperating to 
compete: Turning toward a community of practice. 
Journal of Business Strategy, 38(4), 30-37. 

Kalaitzi, S., Czabanowska, K., Fowler-Davis, S., & Brand, H. 
(2017). Women leadership barriers in healthcare, 
academia and business. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: 
An International Journal 36(5), 457-474.  

Kane, M.J. (2016). A socio-cultural examination of a lack of 
women in sport leadership positions. In N.M. LaVoi 
(Eds.), Women in sports coaching (pp. 33-48). New York, 
NY: Routledge. 

Karatas-Özkan, M. & Chell, E. (2015). Gender inequalities in 
academic innovation and enterprise: A Bourdieuian 
analysis. British Journal of Management, 26, 109-125. 

Kilty, K. (2006). Women in coaching. The Sport Psychologist, 
20(2), 222-234. 

Kraft, E. & Culver, D.M. (2020). Using an action learning 
approach to support social learning leader’s development. 
Action Learning: Research and Practice, 18(1), 52-66. 

Kraft, E., Culver, D.M., & Din, C. (2020). Exploring a women-
only training program for coach developers. Women in 
Sport and Physical Activity Journal, 28(2), 173-179. 

Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate 
peripheral participation. New York, NY: Cambridge 
University Press. 

LaVoi, N.M. (2014, January). Head coaches of women’s 
collegiate teams: A report on select NCAA Division-1 
FBS institutions, 2013-14. Minneapolis, MN: Tucker 
Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport. 

LaVoi, N.M., Baeth, A., & Calhoun A.S. (2019). Sociological 
perspectives of women in sport. In N. Lough & A.N. 
Geuin (Ed.), Routledge handbook of the business of 
women’s sport (pp. 36-46). New York, NY: Routledge. 

LaVoi, N.M. & Wasend, M. (2018, July). Best practices for 
hiring, recruiting and retaining women college coaches: 
A study of athletic directors at A and B grade institutions. 
Minneapolis, MN: Tucker Center for Research on Girls & 
Women in Sport. 

Lincoln, Y.S., Lynham, S.A., & Guba, E.G. (2011). 
Paradigmatic controversies, contradictions, and emerging 
confluences. In N.K. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (4th Eds.), 
The Sage handbook of qualitative research (pp.97-128). 
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 

Lincoln, Y.S. Lynham, S.A., & Guba, E.G. (2018). Paradigmatic 
controversies, contradictions, and emerging confluences, 
revisited. In N.K. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (5th Eds.), The 
Sage handbook of qualitative research (pp.108-150. 
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 

Lyness K.S. & Grotto, A.R. (2018). Women and leadership in 
the United States: Are we closing the gender gap? Annual 
Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational 
Behaviour, 5, 227-265. 

Madsen, S. R. (2015). Why do we need more women leaders in 
Utah? Research & Policy Brief, Utah Women & 
Leadership Project. Retrieved from 
www.uvu.edu/uwlp/docs/ uwlpbrief2015no5.pdf 

Madsen, S.R. & Andrade, M.S. (2018). Unconscious gender 
bias: Implications for women’s leadership development. 
Journal of Leadership Studies, 12(1), 62-67. 

Madsen, S.R. & Dahlvig, J. (2018). What is next for women and 
leadership research and theory? Making a critical impact 
for the future. In S.J. Tan & L. DeFrank-Cole (Ed.), 
Women’s leadership journeys: Stories, research, and 
novel perspectives, (pp.258-270). New York, NY: 
Routledge. 

Mate, S.E., McDonald, M., & Do, T. (2019). The barriers and 
enablers to career and leadership development: An 
exploration of women’s stories in two work cultures. 
International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 27(4), 
857-874. 

Mathipa, E.R. & Tsoka, E.M. (2001). Possible barriers to the 
advancement of women in leadership positions in the 
education profession. South African Journal of Education, 
21(4), 324-331.  

Mathison, S. (1998). Why triangulate? American Educational 
Research Association, 17(2), 13-17. 

Paechter, C. (2003). Masculinities and femininities as 
communities of practice. Women’s International Forum, 
26(1), 69-77. 

Pike, E., White, A., Matthews, J., Southon, S., & Piggott, L. 
(2018). Women and sport leadership: A case study of a 
development program. In L. Mansfield, J. Caudwell, B. 
Wheaton, B. Watson. (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of 
feminism and sport, leisure and physical education, 
(pp.809-823). London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. 

Rhodes, D. L. (2017). Women and leadership. New, NY: Oxford 
University Press. 

Sartore, M.L. & Cunningham, G.B. (2007). Explaining the 
under-representation of women in leadership positions of 
sport organizations: A symbolic interactionist perspective. 
Quest, 59(2), 244-265. 

Jensen, S. Q. (2011). Othering, identity formation and 
agency. Qualitative Studies, 2(2), 63-78. 

Slater, M.J., Barker, J.B., Coffee, P., & Jones, M.V. (2015). 
Leading for gold: Social identity leadership process at the 
London 2012 Olympics Games. Qualitative Research in 
Sport, Exercise and Health, 7(2), 192-209. 

Taylor, E.A. & Hardin, R. (2016). Female NCAA division I 
athletic directors: Experiences and challenges. Women in 
Sport and Physical Activity, 24(1), 14-25. 

Trust, T. & Horrocks, B. (2017). ‘I never feel alone in my 
classroom’: Teacher professional growth within a blended 
community of practice. Professional Development in 
Education, 43(4), 645-665. 

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, 
meaning, and identity. New York, NY: Cambridge. 

Werthner, P., Culver, D.M., & Mercier, R. (2010). Changing the 
androcentric world of sport: Is it possible? In S. 
Robertson (Ed.), Taking the lead: Strategies and solutions 
from female coaches (pp.37-56). Edmonton, AB: The 
University of Alberta Press. 

 



Advancing Women in Leadership Journal-Volume 40                     23