19 December 2023
Gender equality in curling: Addressing the lack of female coaches
“If you’re able to help a team perform better, then it shouldn’t matter what your gender is.”
This is the view of Renee Sonnenberg, Canadian national coach at the Pan Continental Curling Championships. Renee was one of just two female coaches in the A-Division in Kelowna, along with United States coach Cathy Overton-Clapham. In a sport that sees relative equality in player participation and public interest levels, coaching is an area where gender parity is lacking.
Last season across 11 of World Curling’s biggest events, including the European championships, Pan Continentals and world championships amongst others, the numbers of female coaches were eyebrow-raising.
At these events, the number of female team coaches averaged out at just fifteen percent, with no women coaching in the A-Division of the men’s Europeans, the world men’s or men’s world junior championships.
The lack of female coaches at the top-level comes as no shock to Renee, who is aware of her status as an outlier.
“I do feel that [I am a minority]. I’m not surprised because I sense it. I see all the men around me all the time.
Cathy is similarly disappointed at the lack of women coaching at the highest level of the sport.
“That’s not very good, is it? I’m not sure why that is. There’s lots of talented women out there who could be coaching teams.”
With regards to the lack of women coaching men’s squads, Renee believes there is a perception that women must prove themselves to a greater extent as a player than men must before they are considered as potential top-class coaches.
“In curling I find that a lot of stake is put on having had success as an athlete and taking the time to do that and I think the men are viewed that way differently.”
In early 2023, the World Curling Federation established a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Working Group with the stated aims of initiating International Olympic Committee-recommended gender balance activities and “raising awareness of what diversity, equity and inclusion means across the sport of curling.”
Alongside this positive step forward, Renee believes there are further measures that the Federation can take to help increase the number of women in coaching at the top of the sport.
“Raising awareness, I think that’s a big thing. Promoting women’s coaches, creating a women’s coaching group where we could talk to each other about what’s working, help each other learn.”
For her, it is paramount that players realise there is a pathway into coaching post-retirement.
“It does start really with the awareness. To make people go home [and think] maybe I should consider this other avenue rather than just the status quo.”
While there is a long way to go before true equality is achieved in the sport, it is obvious that role models in high-level positions are important in paving the road for aspiring female coaches, as Cathy describes.
“I did have a female coach, Janet Arnott, who was also a past teammate and she was a great mentor in that role as there’s not many female coaches around.”
From a personal standpoint, Cathy is content to be viewed as a role model herself for prospective coaches.
“We see two women out here coaching in Kelowna so I would look at it that way.”
As for Renee, while she recognises the challenges that women must overcome to reach the highest level, she encourages others to follow in her footsteps.
“I would be honoured to be considered a role model. I think people give kind of sideways glances when I walk into a room that’s filled with men.”
“I’m hoping that my performance as a coach, doing a good job, raises the profile of women in coaching and can inspire other women to take the risk. Because it’s definitely a risk to take that leadership role.”
Written by: Sports Media Trainee, Padraig Faherty
In August, Jennifer Dodds from Scotland and Fiona Grace Simpson of Portugal joined the Women in Sport High Performance Pathway (WISH). WISH is a 21-month leadership programme that equips ambitious women coaches to succeed in obtaining roles at elite coaching levels within their sports.
