Women in Coaching

 What are the norms in coaching, especially in women's sports? Well, that has been a rocky road for quite some time now and has had a bunch of ups and downs. Is it due to a lack of opportunities, or is it more related to unrepresentative because of historical gender norms? Historically, there has been a significant issue in the percentage of women coaching college sports, regardless of whether it's a men's team or a women's team. Across sports, only 1 in 4 teams are coached by women, and 97% of men's teams are coached by men. It's ironic that the norm in men's sports is to be led by a man, but in women's sports, it's not the norm for women to lead. 

In order to find a solution, we need to find the root of the problem, which is pretty clear. In life, people traditionally hire those with whom they are comfortable, or who resemble some qualities of themselves, and this is also the case in college sports. In the NCAA, 89% of Athletic Directors are men, which means that when they are looking to fill a new coaching role at a school, you will most likely only see male candidates. This is an issue because the argument traditionally has been that a female may not know as much about a major sport like football because they have never played. But who's to say men know a lot about volleyball or softball? It's these double standards that make it challenging for women to advance in the coaching industry. So, how do you resolve this? Well, there's not exactly an easy solution, but the best way to do this is to get more women in higher-up positions to then change the landscape of coaching forever. A current world example of this is the female Seattle Kraken coach, who really only got offered a position because a man took a chance on her. It shouldn't be the norm for a man to have to feel like they have to take a "chance" on a female, credentials should speak for themselves. 

It seems like pretty much all industries have this issue of hiring who they are comfortable with, but I think it should shift to who's the most qualified. The last major issue is that women tend to be looked at under a microscope and judged a lot more than a man may be. In the videos we watched, it compared a male coaching style like Jim Harbaugh, who throws tantrums on the sideline every game, and is seen as passionate. If a woman were to do that, they would be criticized for being dramatic and emotional. Also, looks play a factor; it seems as though better-looking females tend to have an easier path to success for media and exposure purposes. All of these issues do not exist in the male side of coaching, and I believe that's why this has become such an issue. If you were able to eliminate these small things, it would help catapult women's coaching to a level we haven't ever seen before.