December 28, 2014 (Val di Fiemme, IT) – Last year on the World Cup circuit less than 1% of the accredited coaches and staff were female. In the business world of Fortune 500 companies, 14.6% of women in 2013 held executive officer positions. Currently, cross-country skiing has 13.6% less women working at the top level than North America’s Fortune 500 companies.

Historically World Cups have involved a few female staff, but their participation is as limited as it has been intermittent. In 2013/2014, regular female staff on the circuit included three regular staff: Guri Hetland working for the Swiss team, Kazimiera Stroliene on behalf of the Lithuanian team and Italy’s Valentina Vurich working as a serviceman [the European term for wax technician] for the Polish team. Elena Vaelbe is officially the head coach of Team Russia, though as the president of the Russian Ski Association, FIS points out this is more a titular position.

Coaching seminar at the FIS inaugural Women's Conference Sept. 7-10 © FIS

As it stands, the 2014/2015 season shows no sign of improving, as both Hetland and Vurich have moved away from their direct coaching roles. This means that out of the average 250 accredited staff in next year’s World Cup, only one (Stroliene) will be female.

It is with these statistics in mind that FIS hosted its first-ever coaching seminar for females Sept. 7-10 in Val Di Fiemme, Italy. Vegard Ulvang, the FIS cross-country chairman, stated, “We [cross-country skiing] need more women as coaches and leaders. We cannot ‘order’ more female coaches, but we can motivate nations to give them more opportunities.” Ulvang endorsed the seminar as a first step toward addressing the gender gap, saying, “The best thing we can do is bring women together.”

For Gabriella Paruzzi, chair of the FIS Women’s Committee, the absence of females in leadership positions within the sport is something that needs to be addressed directly by all of those involved: “If we don’t do something for our world, the sport and female world, it will not improve. It’s about building the base from the ground up,” she says.

The three-day conference brought together 18 women from nine different countries. Of these women, less than a third had World Cup coaching experience, most working with junior and younger club-level athletes.

At 25, Katherina Milazzi is one of the first female coaches in Austria. She says breaking into the male-dominated culture of cross-country ski coaching in Austria has been an isolating experience. “I have to work twice as hard and know twice as much as the male coaches. When I get feedback, it’s people screaming with their fingers pointed saying, ‘No, you are wrong.’ It’s horrible.”

Brit Baldishol is a trailblazer in the world of women in coaching. With roughly 25 years of coaching experience in Norway, her resume is staggering. With an education in sport sciences, Baldishol has worked as a club coach, as the Norwegian Junior National team coach, has attended four World Ski Championships and four Junior World Ski Championships. She is now the chief of development for cross-country skiing in Norway.

Gabriella Paruzzi, chair of the FIS Women's Committee © FIS

Baldishol’s opening statement to the coaches gathered in Val Di Fiemme is a bold one. “Despite the fact equality has come a long way, we’re not there until the expectation on men and women are equal. Right now, there is still the expectation from society that women become wives and mothers first.”

While her coaching career has been successful, Baldishol is quick to point out that it has not been easy. “When I started in 1996, I asked, ‘Is this position possible for a girl?’ and the answer was ‘no.’ She says the profession of coaching is still primarily structured to accommodate “fit single young men.”

Baldishol believes the qualities of a good coach cannot ultimately be defined by gender, but she does note that female coaches bring unique and valuable elements to a team. “I think because we are women we have another insight. I think that’s a good part of it. I’m always looking out for the athletes and their well-being. I talk to them differently than some of the boys. Maybe the athletes tell me more things because I am a woman.”

Dr. Fulvio Cuizza, sports psychologist to the Italian Nation Ski Team, has made a living studying the inherent differences between men and woman. In his experience, these fundamental differences must be considered both when working with athletes and when selecting team staff.

“You can motivate a male towards a specific goal and expect him to succeed regardless of his environment,” he says. “But in my experience, woman must give meaning to what they are doing. As a coach, you must take care of relationships and the general environment to help motivate women, to train and produce results. Men are much more simple.”

Cuizza believes that by creating a sustainable environment female athletes will stay in the sport longer and produce more consistent results. “I saw women killing themselves because there weren’t good team relationships. This is directly connected to how long a career can be. If it’s not a healthy, meaningful environment that gives sense to the whole life, it can be a big problem to go on training and racing.”

The FIS Women's 3-day conference brought together 18 women from nine different countries. © FIS

In explaining the hardwired psychological differences between males and females, Cuizza points to the unique acute-stress response commonly known as the fight-or-flight response. Under stressful circumstances, either physically or mentally, the sympathetic nerve system responds immediately.

“The male reaction in this circumstance is fight-or-flight. This is something ingrained over five million years. You fight or you escape.”

The female response to acute stress, however, is described as tend-and-befriend. “This is a pro-active, pro-social response to stress. I think we need more of this in sport. It is for this reason I think all staff should contain a mixture of both males and females.”

Here Cuizza touches on one of the broader themes of his presentation; that in order to create a healthy, fully functioning team environment, female coaches must be part of the equation. “What I see in male coaches [is that] they’re mostly technical guys. They lose 90% of the battle. I’ve followed fantastic guys, but they’ve lost the concept of team completely because they didn’t understand what was going on within the group. Women bring 360 attention to the fact there’s a person and an athlete.”

In the end, Cuizza’s recommendations when working with teams echo his findings: “My experience is always that you must have a winning atmosphere first. . . . Women can enrich all the world of sport if they become part of staff at higher levels.”

Whether or not female coaches will begin to populate high-level senior coaching positions around the world has yet to be seen. In Austria, coach Milazzi is not optimistic. “It’s hard,” she says. “Most athletes have never seen successful high-level female coaches. Inside, they don’t believe it’s possible or even important.”

Kikkan Randall is the FIS athlete rep. From her perspective, engaging more women in leadership roles in cross-country skiing is a high priority. She has some recommendations for sport organizations to help improve the profession for women.” I think sport organizations could work to make the schedules more balanced for time on the road and time with the family. Also, women are more social, so building a network of support and collaboration will also encourage more women to stay in the sport.”

When asked to reflect on her own extremely successful World Cup and Olympic ski career, Paruzzi herself is unsure whether women will ever break into high-level senior coaching positions. “I don’t know,” she says, sighing. “In my experience, I always looked towards the men. . . . Maybe it’s because we are not used to seeing [women] . . . but maybe by promoting [women] from inside, maybe we can open another world.”