PERCEIVED GENDER COMPETENCE BY ATHLETES IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF SPORTS IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES

ABSTRACT

This study investigated perceived gender competence by athletes in the administration of sports in Nigerian universities. This is in view of the general assumption that female are weaker gender than their male counterpart.

The study was guided by seven purposes, which revolves around finding out the gender perceived to have the competence of coordination of human and material resources for the achievement of sports goals in Nigeria universities; capacity to adapt to administrative duties in sports administration; requisite knowledge in sports; administrative foresight in decision making in sports administration; competence of creativity for effective sports administration; and competence of effective communication in sports administration in Nigerian universities.

These purposes were transformed into seven research questions and hypotheses. The Ex-post Facto research design was used to conduct the study. The population of the study consisted of 24,354 male and female athletes spread across 123 universities in the six Geo-political zones of Nigeria. Of this, 500 athletes were used as subjects for the study. A 65 item questionnaire with reliability index of 0.823 was used to elicit responses from the athletes. The research hypotheses were tested using t-test at 0.05 levels of significance for inferential purpose. Findings of the study showed that there was no significant difference in the perceived competence of skills to coordinate human and material resources for the achievement of sports goals in Nigeria universities; there was no significant perceived difference in the ability to adapt to administrative duties in sports administration; requisite knowledge in sports; administrative foresight in decision making in sports administration; competence of creativity for effective sports administration; and there was no significant perceived difference in the competence of effective communication in sports administration in Nigerian universities.

The study concluded that female sports administrators are perceived to have the same competency in sports administration with their male counterparts in Nigerian universities‟ sports organizations; both male and female have the required skills for effective coordination of available human and materials resources for the effective administration of sports in Nigerian universities; female sports administrators have the requisite knowledge for effective sports administration in Nigerian universities like their male counterparts; female sports administrator have the required foresight for effective sports administration in Nigerian universities; female have equal ability for creativity with male for the effective sports administration in Nigerian universities; male and female have competency in communication for effective sports administration in Nigerian universities. Based on the findings, the researcher thus recommended that;

1. there should be no basis for discrimination in appointing sports administrator based on gender competency in Nigerian universities sports administration, as such sports administration should not be a preserve of a gender against another,
2. male and female should be appointed into positions of sports administrators where skills for effective mobilization of human and materials resources for achieving organizational goals are required,
3. male and female administrators should be appointed into position of administration for their ability to adapt to administrative duties in Nigerian universities,
4. male and female administrators could be appointed into position of sports administration since they have the requisite knowledge for sports administration.

PERCEIVED GENDER COMPETENCE BY ATHLETES IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF SPORTS IN NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES