‘CEO equals man’: Gender and informal organisational practices in English sport governance

© The Author(s) 2019. © YYYY Owner. The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in Piggott, L. V., & Pike, E. C. (2019). ‘CEO equals man’: Gender and informal organisational practices in English sport governance. International Review for the Sociology of Sport by Sage Publications Ltd. All rights reserved. It is available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690219865980Despite the benefits of diversity amongst sport leaders increasingly being argued by both researchers and practitioners, English sport governance remains gender-imbalanced at all levels of leadership. Within this article, we aim to explore how informal organisational practices within two established English national governing bodies impact upon gender equity and gender balance within their governance. This is important to raise awareness of the power of informal organisational practices to favour one gender over another. We present findings generated through a multi-method qualitative approach of semi-structured interviews and participant observation. Official documents from the two organisations were also drawn upon to add specific detail or fill information gaps during the collection, analysis and write-up of data. Throughout the article, we draw upon Bourdieu’s theory of practice to focus on the ways in which cultural resources, processes and institutions hold sport leaders within gendered hierarchies of dominance. We found that informal organisational practices contribute to the reinforcement of gendered structures of dominance which privilege (dominant) men and masculinity, and normalise and naturalise the positions of men as leaders. Some examples of resistance against inequitable informal practices were also evident. Drawing upon Bourdieu’s theorising, we highlight that alternative practices must be valued more highly by the organisation than current problematic practices in order for them to become legitimised, habitual and sustainable. We suggest that one way of achieving this is by linking gender-equitable governance to organisational values and performance to provide motivation for organisations to make genuine, sustainable change.Peer reviewe

Normothermic versus hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass in children undergoing open heart surgery (thermic-2):study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: During open heart surgery, patients are connected to a heart-lung bypass machine that pumps blood around the body (“perfusion”) while the heart is stopped. Typically the blood is cooled during this procedure (“hypothermia”) and warmed to normal body temperature once the operation has been completed. The main rationale for “whole body cooling” is to protect organs such as the brain, kidneys, lungs, and heart from injury during bypass by reducing the body’s metabolic rate and decreasing oxygen consumption. However, hypothermic perfusion also has disadvantages that can contribute toward an extended postoperative hospital stay. Research in adults and small randomized controlled trials in children suggest some benefits to keeping the blood at normal body temperature throughout surgery (“normothermia”). However, the two techniques have not been extensively compared in children. OBJECTIVE: The Thermic-2 study will test the hypothesis that the whole body inflammatory response to the nonphysiological bypass and its detrimental effects on different organ functions may be attenuated by maintaining the body at 35°C-37°C (normothermic) rather than 28°C (hypothermic) during pediatric complex open heart surgery. METHODS: This is a single-center, randomized controlled trial comparing the effectiveness and acceptability of normothermic versus hypothermic bypass in 141 children with congenital heart disease undergoing open heart surgery. Children having scheduled surgery to repair a heart defect not requiring deep hypothermic circulatory arrest represent the target study population. The co-primary clinical outcomes are duration of inotropic support, intubation time, and postoperative hospital stay. Secondary outcomes are in-hospital mortality and morbidity, blood loss and transfusion requirements, pre- and post-operative echocardiographic findings, routine blood gas and blood test results, renal function, cerebral function, regional oxygen saturation of blood in the cerebral cortex, assessment of genomic expression changes in cardiac tissue biopsies, and neuropsychological development. RESULTS: A total of 141 patients have been successfully randomized over 2 years and 10 months and are now being followed-up for 1 year. Results will be published in 2015. CONCLUSIONS: We believe this to be the first large pragmatic study comparing clinical outcomes during normothermic versus hypothermic bypass in complex open heart surgery in children. It is expected that this work will provide important information to improve strategies of cardiopulmonary bypass perfusion and therefore decrease the inevitable organ damage that occurs during nonphysiological body perfusion. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN Registry: ISRCTN93129502, http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN93129502 (Archived by WebCitation at http://www.webcitation.org/6Yf5VSyyG)

Sporting Events, the Trafficking of Women for Sexual Exploitation and Human Rights

This chapter explores the possibilities of applying a human rights framework to sexual exploitation, sex work and sporting events. Human rights perspectives are emerging as useful ways to interrogate a range of global social injustices. However, defining sexual exploitation is not straightforward. First, I focus on how sexual exploitation and sex work are understood within human rights instruments. Second, I provide a vivid illustration of the trafficking of women for sexual exploitation. Through this case study, I demonstrate the conditions and mechanisms of supply of, and demand for, women for sexual exploitation. Finally, I return to the existing sport-related literature to elucidate the state of current knowledge of sexual exploitation, sex work and international sporting events. In doing so, I highlight the potential of adopting a human rights framework for future feminist research

Physical activity among children with asthma: Cross‐sectional analysis in the UK millennium cohort

Background: Although beneficial for health and well‐being, most children do not achieve recommended levels of physical activity. Evidence for children with asthma is mixed, with symptom severity rarely considered. This paper aimed to address this gap. Methods: We analyzed cross‐sectional associations between physical activity and parent‐reported asthma symptoms and severity for 6497 UK Millennium Cohort Study 7−year‐old participants (3321, [49%] girls). Primary outcomes were daily moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity (MVPA, minutes) and proportion of children achieving recommended minimum daily levels of 60 minutes of MVPA. Daily steps, sedentary time, and total activity counts per minute (cpm) were recorded, as were parent‐reported asthma symptoms, medications, and recent hospital admissions. Associations were investigated using quantile (continuous outcomes) and Poisson (binary outcomes) regression, adjusting for demographic, socioeconomic, health, and environmental factors. Results: Neither asthma status nor severity was associated with MVPA; children recently hospitalized for asthma were less likely to achieve recommended daily MVPA (risk ratio [95% confidence interval [CI]]: 0.67 [0.44, 1.03]). Recent wheeze, current asthma, and severe asthma symptoms were associated with fewer sedentary hours (difference in medians [95% CI]: −0.18 [−0.27, −0.08]; −0.14 [−0.24, −0.05]; −0.15, [−0.28, −0.02], respectively) and hospital admission with lower total activity (−48 cpm [−68, −28]). Conclusion: Children with asthma are as physically active as their asthma‐free counterparts, while those recently hospitalized for asthma are less active. Qualitative studies are needed to understand the perceptions of children and families about physical activity following hospital admission and to inform support and advice needed to maintain active lifestyles for children with asthma

Designing the Mission Operations for the Pointable Radiometer for Observation of Volcanic Emissions (PROVE) Pathfinder Payload

The PROVE Pathfinder CubeSat payload is a 2U Visual and TIR imaging payload optimized for observation of volcanic ash clouds for 3D reconstruction. Three of the main challenges for the mission operations of payload are optimization of the observation geometry (num. images, angles, etc.), data management of a high data rate payload, and observation scheduling for sporadic eruptions. Example solutions to these problems are presented belo