I've covered the topic of the need and obligation that everyone involved in sports management should feel to create the opportunity for more women to get involved in coaching or for that matter all sports management roles. I wanted to cover the topic again because I think it is a hot button issue that is getting more and more traction and warrants exposure.
For the most part, when people advocate for getting more women into coaching, it seems to be the default position for men mostly that are all for it , as long as it is more women coaching women, and not at the highest ( read better playing ) levels. Women have ascended into positions of authority in politics and business (certainly not enough given their percentage of the population) but sports, especially professional sports, seem to remain the final bastion of limited access for women into coaching roles of authority. The thinking remains that women somehow can never have the understanding and ability to successfully coach men in sport. I am thinking that if women can run cities, provinces, countries and corporations, they can certainly coach sport. Women who coach, especially if they coach on the male side, often have to justify their knowledge and experience in the male-dominated sports world, and often to people ( again read men here) , who are nothing more than fans and arm chair experts. It is always annoying when someone who has never been involved in sports other than watching them, can so strongly offer opinions about how things should be, so I can only imagine how a woman, experienced in coaching, must find it annoying to be further considered unworthy of coaching because of the added "handicap" of being female. While the number of women coaching boys’ or men’s teams and programs is minimal, probably less than 5% of university men’s teams have female coaches in some capacity, with number certainly being lower in the pro ranks and potential higher at the youth, club and recreational levels, — these unique situations certainly come with their fair share of obstacles. In my coaching career, I have seen other instances in female coached teams, where opposing coaches would approach a male member of a coaching staff, assuming they were the head coach. For the most part, once directed to the right person, they apologize and interact with the coach as they would with any other. While this example is essentially harmless, situations like this remain a never-ending problem for female coaches, not to mention those who coach the opposite sex. Women who coach boys’ and men’s programs are subject to sexual harassment, gender inequality and tokenism. They are forced to constantly justify their qualifications, while male coaches with little to no knowledge of or experience playing sports are handed well paying coaching without question. Women coaches at all levels face a complex set of barriers and bias, which often result in workplace inequities. They are often held to a different set of standards than their male counterparts, they are compensated less than their male counterparts, and the number of opportunities to enter and stay in the profession greatly reduced. Women who do succeed and reach the upper ranks of the profession are often dismissed as having be helped along the way due to political correctiveness or some form of affirmative action project. Currently, there are no female head coaches of men’s professional sports teams in the United States, though in recent years, women have been entering previously uncharted territory as assistant coaches and at different universities, there are also female pioneers in men’s programs. From the outside looking in, I can understand why why the hiring of women in coaching roles for men's teams can be seen as so unique or newsworthy, because there are simply not many women regularly being hire in coaching at any highly competitive level and of course even less with men's teams.. But from my perspective,it is simply a job, one where you hire the best candidate available and whose skill set should compliment those of the other coaching staff members. As I have always said in various presentations I give, if I am looking for an assistant coach whose qualifications are complimentary to mine, a female is the obvious candidate, she will have skills that I as a male can never have. As more women are hired into leadership positions in male-specific or male-dominated sports, it will only create a cultural shift and more balance, where such an instance isn’t viewed as an exception. I know a lot of women who want to coach, but the opportunities are limited, and getting a foot in the door is the hard part. Part of it is the stigma from a male standpoint, and the other is women not reaching out for it for fear of being turned down. But the more it happens, the more normal it will be, and the less of a big deal it will be. That is why I have maintained that it is up to the decision makers to open the door to opportunities, to not condone any behavior or action which serves as a barrier to women entering the coaching ranks. So why would women coach the other sex ? To begin with, if that questions is even needed to be asked, then why do men see not issue with other men coaching women's sports. When I started 25 years ago, it was often assumed that if you coached women's sports it was because you could handle or were not sufficiently qualified to coach on the men's side. I thinking coaching now is about seeking out the best opportunities and for those who wish to pursue coaching as a career is about seeking the better paying roles and those that can further a career. So if it is one's chosen profession, why would you go out and explore EVERY possible option. If I look at my sport of soccer specifically, why wouldn't women get into coaching. I know of some highly qualified women's coaches who started out simply as soccer moms ( I used the culturally familiar term simply as reference and not in any demeaning manner). As their sons started to play soccer, they would be the parent taking their sons to games and practices, by watching, they learned how to run drills, how to interact with players, formations, tactics, everything. Gender shouldn’t deter your desire to coach either male or female. In the case of my friends, they ended up coaching boys because they had boys. Part of the coaching was out of necessity because there was nobody else to do it but also because it allowed them to start involved in their sons chosen sport. If they had girls, maybe they would be coaching girls. I think that encouraging and ensuring that more women rise in the coaching ranks and other areas of sports management at all levels will have benefits that go well beyond the field of play. There is evidence that not only are role models critical in the advancement of women throughout roles of leadership, but female-based networks are also crucial. Men are often provided with greater amounts and larger networks so so called "old boys network" within all levels of society in large part because of the tradition of more male leaders within sport and industry, and women are missing out on opportunities based on a lack of connections. While the world of sports is slowly headed in the right direction, gender inequality and sexism at the coaching level won’t end until women coaching men, and women, for that matter at all levels becomes more prevalent, and a coach isn’t judged by his or her sex, but by his or her success. When young girls boys see women in leadership positions, or in this case, head coaching positions, it has the ripple effect of empowering young girls to consider coaching as a successful, viable career option. It will also empower to seek out leadership position in any domain they pursue. The more we see women being supported and respected as coaches and leaders, the more we will continue to crush gender stereotypes. Leadership knows no gender. A coach should be a ‘coach’, not defined or limited as a ‘female’ coach.
1 Comment
Catherine
8/29/2017 05:57:13 am
Good article. Thanks. I Have been coaching boys since 2006, men's college since 2012, pro men since 2014.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorAfter many years of coaching at various levels and with different teams, I thought I would share some of my experiences and thoughts about coaching. Archives
January 2023
Categories
All
|