Explaining the Dimensions of Glass Ceiling over Women's Management in Sports (Qualitative Approach: Meta Synthesis)

The purpose of this study is to explain the dimensions of glass ceiling on women's management in sports. The present study follows the interpretive paradigm and inductive logic with a qualitative approach. Using a combination of previous studies in the last 10 years, a total of 163 studies have been extracted from various databases in both English and Persian. The criteria for entering research for analysis closely follow the main question of the research. They entail using interviews to gather information from specific participants, using theoretical saturation to determine the participants themselves, and using coding for analysis. Finally, eight studies are selected with the necessary criteria, and analyzed using content analysis technique. The central category of the present study, based on the glass ceiling of women's management in sports, is consisted of five main categories and 14 sub-categories. The main categories include: prevalence of patriarchal culture in society, lack of trust in society in women's empowerment, disregard for macro-policies in the development of women's sports, women's low self-esteem in the development of women's sports, incompatibility of women's work, and personal environment. Given the dimensions of glass ceiling of women's management in sports, the criteria for selecting management positions in sports organizations are not fair for cultural and personal reasons. Extensive studies in this field should be conducted to change the attitudes toward women and their capabilities.