Where are All of the Women Coaches?

When I first started playing soccer at about five years old, each and every one of my lower level coaches was a woman. Women are stereotypically viewed as emotional, gentle, and sensitive, therefore making them better suited to coach young children on the field or even teach young students in school. This immediately changed once I grew older and involved myself in higher level club teams. Once I turned thirteen, all 4 of my coaches on the two teams that I played for were men. The higher we moved up the ranks, the fewer female coaches I noticed on the sidelines. Even though these observations that I made on the playing field a few years ago may be overlooked and seem rather minute in comparison to collegiate and professional level sports, connections can still be made. To put it simply, there is a noteworthy lack of female coaches in collegiate level and professional sports. The New York Times article said it as it truly is: When a woman doesn’t lead well, it’s evidence that women can’t lead. When a man doesn’t work out, he wasn’t the right fit. This double standard must be eliminated because we need women role models to improve and progress further in the sports industry. 

Although Title IX made leaps and bounds in the right direction for the sports industry, the heart of this problem lies in our country’s history. Title IX remedied many of the issues regarding unequal opportunities and unfair treatment of female athletes themselves, but it didn’t really address the coaching aspect. Coach Curry, assistant coach of the men’s basketball team at the University of Maine said, “Title IX asked for participation. It didn’t ask for coaching.” Countless passionate women were encouraged to play, but who would hold the position to lead and coach them? Women still struggle to attain leadership positions to this day. Professional and collegiate sports were male dominated for decades, already making it difficult for women to break ground in the first place. For instance, the NFL is still a male dominated sport with predominantly male coaches. If you were to offer a female, who may be extremely well qualified, the position of head coach of an NFL team, I can guarantee that there would be countless critics that would ridicule her capabilities and even players who wouldn’t show as much respect to her as a coach as they would to a male. It is about time that we prioritize the qualification and competence of a coach when it comes to hiring as opposed to factoring in and making judgements off of their gender. 

According to the article “Why Women Coaches Matter,” reasearch shows that same sex role models positively influence self-perceptions. As a female athlete, it is important to experience what it is like to have a female coach serve as an example and a role model because that relationship has the ability to challenge stereotypes about leadership in the sports industry. It is both inspiring and empowering for a female athlete to be coached by a strong woman. A female coach has the ability to lead their team to just as many championships as an equally qualified male coach, yet only 1 in 4 head coaches are women in Division 1 sports. This needs to change. What better idea is there than to have male and female coaches work together on the field, court, or ice in order to encourage collaboration and challenge past norms? The more we encourage women that coaching at the collegiate and professional level is a viable option, the more female coaches there will be.