The head of Britain's professional sports coach association Emily Handyside says female coaches "must work twice as hard as a man to be respected and credible", despite recent on-pitch successes and increased media exposure for women's sport in the UK.
A study from UK Coaching shows there has been a 6% decline in the overall number of female coaches in recent years.
The decline is particularly steep at grassroots level, with a 10% dip in the number of female volunteer coaches - significantly affecting pathways in amateur sport.
"When people imagine a coach, they imagine a man first, people expect a man," Handyside, former Wales netball coach and lead at UK Coaching, told BBC Sport.
"These assumptions make people feel like they don't belong there. Women must work twice as hard to be respected, to be credible."
Additional research highlighted systemic barriers experienced by women coaches, including bullying, harassment and unequal opportunities.
And the impact is passed down to young players, according to new FA data released this week.
Half of all girls who play organised football say they would tell a female coach something they could not tell a parent or guardian, while for a male coach, the figure is just one in eight - but only 7% of the people coaching grassroots football in England are women.
The study from Bloomsbury Football Foundation in association with the FA found 13% of teenage girls play organised football at least once a week, against 46% of boys. Of the girls who play, 49% are mostly or always coached by someone of their own gender, against 85% of boys.
This tallies with what has been experienced by female coaches for years - while opportunities are increasing at the top level, for most there has been little change.
An example of success at elite level is the Women's Super League. In January 2023, only four of 12 WSL coaches were women.
Now, eight out of 14 managers in the English top tier are women,, external including the managers of all three newly promoted sides - Amy Merricks at Birmingham, Crystal Palace's Jo Potter and Karen Hills of Charlton Athletic.
A new Fifa quota stating women's teams must have a female head coach or assistant has also helped redress the balance in top-level football.
However, at grassroots level it is a different story, with barriers including cost and childcare, even for former Lionesses.
"That number is a shock," said ex-England international Fara Williams, speaking on the BBC's Women's Football Fallout about the drop in coaching numbers.
"The cost to do B and A licences, and the salaries or opportunities you will get from that investment, it does not quite marry up. They are quite costly, those badges.
"I tried it [the coaching pathway], it was not feasible to take up that opportunity. Some can take that risk, but our generation of players, we were not paid enough to go mortgage free, bills must be paid. I needed to do something that would pay the bills, and football coaching was not that.
"When I was playing, I was adamant I was going to be a coach, I coached all the development teams at Everton, Liverpool and Reading, but it is so different. When you are playing you don't have the opportunities to coach at a higher level, then when you come out the game you don't have the money."
The Uefa Pro Licence, external - the qualification needed to coach at the highest level of English football - costs £14,000, and there are only 24 places per intake.
For a C licence, the lowest certification level, the cost is £650., external This can be subsidised, but only if the applicant is currently associated with an FA registered club, creating a chicken and egg situation.
Handyside acknowledges that cost is a major barrier - for women and men.
"The top three barriers are the same for men and women, and cost was in there for both," she said.
"It is seen as a bigger barrier for women because when you must work twice as hard, the risk and reward balance is more outmatched.
"If you are a female looking at that cost and think you will also be overstretched and under supported, that £650 will have more of an impact."
Handyside, who coached the Wales netball team for four years before leaving after last summer's Commonwealth Games, is fronting her organisation's new Women in Coaching Plan, alongside its signing of the Brighton Plus Helsinki Declaration, external - the international framework for advancing gender equality in sport.
She says government intervention to provide greater access to coaching is required.
"I would love for there to be more mandates from government about coaching metrics, including retention as a performance indicator with funding attached to that," she said.
While Williams is shocked by the drop in coaching numbers, it comes as less of a surprise for those already involved in grassroots football.
Zoe Conning balances being a coach at community club Manchester Laces with her day job as disability access officer at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
A Uefa B licence holder, she has been a coach for five years including a full-time spell with Macclesfield.
"There is an immense disconnect between top level and grassroot football, " she tells BBC Sport.
"For your B licence, you need another 12 months in coaching in an elite environment. How am I supposed to go to an elite club with no elite experience?"
Conning received help funding for her B licence - which costs £1,250, external - but had to fund her own expenses to travel between Wolverhampton and Manchester, where the course took place.
When it came to the A licence - which costs £4,150, external - she had to say no, and she could not even think about the Pro level course.
"Cost is definitely one of the major impacts," she says. "You can get bursaries and grants; but for the Pro licence, where is that sort of money coming from when you are at grassroots or in voluntary roles? It is not feasible.
"There is definitely more work that can be done in advertising bursaries and support; maybe something similar to student loans.
"Coaches simply must be better paid - so often it is voluntary or minimum wage. Anything government funded would be good."
Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Anita Asante is one of several former England internationals who feel they cannot pursue a career in coaching
While cost is a universal concern across all genders, one factor which disproportionately impacts women is family - whether starting one, including pregnancy, or the requirements of childcare.
Former England international Anita Asante started her coaching career after hanging up her boots, including a spell with Bristol City in WSL 2. Speaking on BBC's Women's Football Fallout, she talks about being faced with a decision familiar to many sportswomen.
"For myself, the doors did open - I was fortunate to go into Bristol City and work with them, then with England Under-23s," she said.
"But it became a choice for me; we have a young child at home, and for players so much of our playing career has been missing out on events and family - you want that time back.
"There are many young women who want to go into coaching but don't have the support. Then when coaches get there, they are often under-resourced, so the job becomes less about coaching, and it takes a toll on people."
Handyside highlighted a campaign by Kent non-league club Faversham Town to get mums into coaching - but this remains a rare example.
"What can be unique about a woman's experience is the life stages - such as becoming a parent, as women carry the child," she said. "It disproportionately affects women.
"We need job shares, more part-time coaching roles. If you need to step away for a while, you should not have to step away forever.
"What has struck me at grassroots level is women being written off as soon as they have a family, which does not happen at elite level as much as they are protected by employment law.
"All coaches need to have agreements and contracts in place - if you need to step away, you should have guarantees where you can come back.
"People deserve a level of respect and protection at grassroots level."
And despite recent huge successes in the UK in elite women's sport - such as England's football team winning back-to-back European Championships, or England's Red Roses rugby union side claiming the World Cup at Twickenham - the old spectre of sport being seen as a male domain still lingers.
"I have done a few coaching courses, and there has been one female coaching mentor," says Conning.
"And on my B licence, it was 28 men taking the course, and three women. It is an intimidating environment to go into.
"In our [Manchester Laces'] division, there are maybe a handful of female coaches. On a matchday there will be a male referee, male coaches; it can be intimidating."
Handyside wants their Women in Coaching plan to make a real difference beyond catchphrases or inspiration.
"This is not 'see it to be it', that does not sit well with me," she says.
"We want to show that the sports sector really values women and wants them around.
"This isn't about blaming men; it is about the nature of high-performance sport - all or nothing. It is the culture, the stereotypes that exist."
Find interviews and extra content on the BBC Women's Football Weekly feed
