抄録
The first professional women’s soccer league in Japan, called the “WE League,” was started in September 2021. The league strives to promote diversity and inclusivity in society, including the empowerment of women, and as an entry criterion for the promotion of women, it stipulates: “at least one woman coach must be included in the coaching staff”. As a whole, the percentage of women coaches in the WE League is high, being 28% in the first year, but some problematic issues remain, such as a decrease in the number of women coaches with increased coaching age, the existence of teams without women coaches, and the fact that the top team is the only one with a woman as head coach. In this connection, the present study focused on the WE League as the first top league in Japan to require the promotion of women coaches, with the aim of clarifying the efforts of clubs and the barriers they faced in achieving this policy. These issues were examined from an employer’s perspective, using LaVoi and Dutove’s (2012) ecological model of barriers and support for women coaches as an analytical framework.
For the purpose of this study, 4 clubs that have achieved the entry criteria for the appointment of women coaches were selected, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 4 individuals responsible for organizing the coaching staff at these clubs. The interview data were analyzed using SCAT, which is a qualitative data analysis method.
The results showed that, while the efforts and barriers to achieving the entry criteria for appointing women coaches varied according to club background, some commonalities were also identified. Efforts in common were hiring a combination of men and women coaches and human resource development within the organization.
Also, the common barriers identified included the number of women coaches, a lack of self-efficacy, the threat of stereotyping, inadequate support systems for continuing as coaches, and the gap between league seasons.
Future research should aim at increasing the number of research subjects and conducting longitudinal studies to assess the impact of the start of the WE League on women’s soccer and to present data that could help in its application to other organizations.
https://ror.org/03a6vay74 
