The Commission on the Future of Women's Sport recently produced a report - Trophy Women? 2010 - which posits the theory that sport could improve its governance by appointing more women to senior management positions.

It noted the fact that "only 11 of 46 Sport England-funded national governing bodies have female chief executives", 10 National Governing Bodies, including the FA, have no women on their Board at all.

In in a blog by Tim Woodhouse, head of policy at the Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation, he said: "The logic is clear, if decision makers are 'pale, male and stale', they are less able to run sport in a way which is appealing to a diverse participation base."

I absolutely, passionately believe in the concept of 'the best person for the job.

If it happens to be a woman, great. If not, then so be it.

When I applied for the job as chief executive of England Hockey, it never occurred to me that my gender would make any difference. I never thought about it. It occurred to me that other people might be better qualified or do a better job than me, but not that being female would make any difference.

Throughout my entire career - at the Lawn Tennis Association and Reading Borough Council before that - I can honestly say that I don't think I was ever treated differently because I'm a female. I'm am not saying it doesn't happen. I know plenty of people it's happened to, and plenty of people in sport, but it has never happened to me.

I really believe in equality and equality of opportunity, but that isn't the case everywhere. A number of governing bodies are operating on a 21st century basis and  appoint the best person for the job, male or female. But I think some others are so completely male-dominated it will take some kind of special action to make them change. They must be aware that the IOC have set a wishful quota that 20 per cent of boards at international and domestic level should be women. I'm happy to say we meet that criteria, and more. We have a board of 14, four of which are women.

However, I wouldn't say I have seen enough evidence to support the statement that female representation at board level necessarily translates into an increase in female participation in the sport. That was a crucial contention in the report and I'm not sure I've seen such a definitive link myself. I look at it this way.  Can I, as a female chief executive, representing a sport which men and women play equally, say I only understand the part of the sport that isn't male? I don't think so.

Do I have more empathy with women's issues because I'm female? I don't think so either.

My job is to service both the men and women's side of the game - the playing population is roughly 50-50 - I'm not sure my gender makes me better or worse at that. As for our management, our chairman, Philip Kimberley, often jokes that because we have 14 national managers  and  only three of them are male, we need to employ more men.



Some people might imagine that women are dissuaded from applying for top sports management positions because of the lifestyle. The hours are certainly long and there are inevitable stresses. But I think I have a good work/life balance. I would much rather work 70 hours a week and love the job than work 35 hours a week and hate it. I believe I've got one of the best jobs in the country. I absolutely love what I do. If I have to work long hours, I have no issue with it whatsoever.

This is a very exciting time for hockey. We have both our international teams - men and women - challenging for medals at every tournament they play and we're very much looking forward to the GB teams playing at London 2012. We have a real chance of medals in both cases and I'd like to think that's because we have a track-record of spreading our resources equally and backing both squads with absolute equality.

We host the biggest indoor hockey tournament in the country at Wembley at the end of the month and while there has been controversy over the fact that the men are playing three matches - two semi finals and a final - while the women play only one, that was absolutely not a matter of discrimination. It was purely and simply, on this one occasion, a commercial decision. We moved the tournament to Wembley to generate more spectators and history shows us that it is the men's game which is more likely to encourage a big crowd.

But we have some brilliant female role models like captain Kate Walsh, Crista Cullen and striker Alex Danson, who scored 16 goals earlier this month, and I am positive the profile of the women's game will soar. The fact we spent £1 million on the Women's Champion's Trophy last summer in Nottingham is an indicator of our commitment to the women's game.

Sally Munday is the chief executive of England Hockey