Tylanna Stewart-Herman Engl 1102-002 Inquiry Where are the women?

Everybody We all watches sports and enjoy them just as much as the next person. But have you ever taken a deeper look at the sidelines? Where are the women? Okay, we see They are seen them as the cheerleaders, or maybe the reporter speaking about the game, but are they helping the team in any way, are there any female coaches? The answer is no. Have you ever wondered why there are no women head coaches in professional sports? Probably not, but I have. I am a lover of football and I have noticed the absence of females in the mens professional sports scene, not only in football but in all professional sports. Here are some statistics. There are zero few to no female head coaches in the NBA, MLB, NHL, and NFL. This goes all the way down to the assistant coaches, and the assistants of the assistant coaches as well; there are no women. Im curious to know that of the over 1000 jobs that this includes why are the positions only held by men (Malady). There is one exception to this stat and that is Nancy Lieberman. She is a very recognized woman in the sports world. Not only for being the only woman to play on a mens professional league but as well as being the 1st female head coach for a football basketball team. To be exact she coached the Dallas Mavericks NBA D-league team, Texas Legends (Nancy LiebermanESPN). Lieberman has paved the way for many other women trying to excel in this field, however the numbers are still miniscule.

There are women that are coaching are in the high school and collegiate departmentlevels. At the collegiate level a women coach has fewer than three percent of mens teams. With this in mind realize that in all of the women that have served as coaches for Division I mens basketball teams were assistants (MagmaFAQs). This is remarkable considering the number of teams that are present. In the high school level there are more women than ever before. However there are only two women head coaches for football teams in all of the United States (FAQsMagma). This statement shows that even at the lower levels of the mens sports world there is a very small amount of female presence. And we still have this question of why. As depicted in the 1986 movie Wildcats Goldie Hawn portrays a high school football coach that brings her team to a championship. Malady, a writer for Slate, summarized the movie. He stated that Iin this movie she is the daughter of a famed football coach who overcomes the gender issues as well as the prejudices that arise as she takes the position of head coach (Malady). Even though this movie is a comedy it clearly shows the struggles that women go through when trying to break the barriers that have been set. I feel as though with so many barriers, such as gender discrimination as well as gender expectations, theose women have to face to even be considered for these positions they are discouraged from trying. Society portrays women as not being able to do some of the same things that men do. However, women are a part of the same sports as men. They have proven to be able to withstand the same things as men. For example, when the men to overseas because of the war in the 1920s, women had to become the leading worker in the house. They took on the jobs that their husbands had left behind. Still with this in mind women are still discouraged. They (women) receive little support and are isolated when they are trying to take these leadership roles, such as coaching. Some who try are sometimes unable to get help from the other coaches.

They also feel need to work a lot harder than their male counterparts because of the singleminded thinking that only a man can do this job. Thus women are intimidated and therefore seen as not be able to handle the pressure. Another point that has been made that may be seen as a barrier is one of sexuality. Some have said that it is a fear that one will be portrayed as homosexual if they participate in a sport. Now that more people are becoming more openly gay it has become apparent that many of the female sports players and coaches are homosexual. My thought is that some women are scared that they will be categorized with this population. This may be one of the reasons why there is a small amount of women present. Even with this stereotype there is still the masculine vs. feminine aspect. One of the points that I have researched is one of the role that society takes on women. Even now in the twenty-first century there is still a sense of the women homemaker and the male bread-winner. These masculine and feminine dynamic ties into the current issue of the presidency. With this election I begin to think how my inquiry relates, this is just the same as why we have yet to have a women president. The United States is one of the few countries that have never had a women chief executive, including Argentina, Iceland, and Ecuador. According to a report done by CBS News, Iif you look at the statistics there are 146 million men and 151 million women, by majority women should have the upper hand. (CBSNews). Yet there still has never been a women president. As well as with sports there is the question, is there a female candidate with the qualifications? In my opinion, yes, Hillary Clinton. As we have seen as being the first lady when former President Bill Clinton was in office as well as currently as the Secretary of State she has shown that she has the influence, credentials and motivation to lead. Although not pertaining to sports directly, it does pertain to the issue of the single-minded

thinking that women are unable or unstable to do the same jobs as men. Therefore, women have these qualifications and still hold very little hierarchy. Society has become so immune to the female role that I feel they are scared of change. I am personally under the impression that no matter how much one says that they are ready for change they are still pessimistic about the outcome. So much of society was worried about what would happen, having President Obama in office instead of looking at the big picture. That is that it does not matter the gender, race, age of the person but what how they handle the situations at hand. This is all about leadership. Views on leadership have been and still are the male values of rationality (MagmaFAQs). This is. Everything must be based on reason, only the strong will survive, and every man for himself. With this being said I have realized that some believe that women will not handle the situation at hand. It is said that they are too sensitive for some things. Thus being incapable of leading or being in sticky situations. One opinion that I have found was that it is believed that with the sensitivity, women will sympathize to easily therefore making the wrong decisions. This correlates with the president issue as well as coaching. If they sympathize they wont make those hard decisions that may hurt the outcome of the situation. They will not pull the trigger. This metaphor goes with the little known fact that women are not allowed to be snipers in the military. This is partially because they are not allowed to engage in direct combat (Huffington PostTerkel). In my opinion I think that this is also because society feels as though when put in the position of killing someone women may sympathize at the last moment and not complete the operation. This act of not having women in direct combat is currently trying to be appealed. Many see this as discrimination and outdated (TerkelHuffingtonPost). Why shouldnt women be able to face the same dangers and obstacles as men? Why are they seen as inferior to men?

This inferiority that is seen by some is one of the reasons why I believe many women are so reluctant about trying to become a coach. They feel as though they may not be respected the way that they should because face it, they are women. Coaching is a male-dominated sport and the views on this are very slow to change. It was stated best by the Coaching Association of Canada: The structure of sport is not neutral. We need to move beyond thinking that women are the problem or that men are the problem. Gender is not the issue, our views and beliefs as people need to change before anything major is able to take place. If a woman were to be a head coach she would bring many different aspects to the sport. As with the male coach being a father figure, the female would be a mother figure. They would be able to be tough on the athletes, building up the team as well as being compassionate and nurturing. Women base their reaction off of feeling instead of action like males. They have a whole-brained perspective, while men have a linear path. Women as coaches would bring a different side to sport. With the obvious lack of women coaches, even the womens teams are coached by men. While most collegiate womens teams are indeed coached by fellow females, many teams are coached by men. This is best illustrated by the Utah Blitz. They are one of the teams apart of the Womens Football Alliance. The Blitz head coach, despite this being an all-female team is a male (YouTubePark City Television). With the low number of female coaches at the professional level there is a small amount of role models for female athletes. With the increase of women in the coaching field more young women athletes may be more optimistic about their careers as coaches or some type of leadership role. Females coaching at the professional level would bring a new look at the sports world.

Works Cited Magma.ca. Dodge Ink Inc. Web. 26 Oct 2012 Malady, Matthew. Slate. 28 Sept 2012. Web. 31 Oct 2012. Schorn, Daniel. CBSNews. CBS Interactive. 11 Feb 2009. Web. 26 Oct 2012 Steirn, Marc. ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures. 18 July 2011. Web. 2012 Terkel, Amanda. Huffington Post. 14 Jan 2011. Web. 31 Oct 2012. "FAQs." Coaching Association of Canada. Dodge Ink, Inc., n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2012. "Nancy Lieberman named assistant GM." Marc Stein. ESPN.com. ESPN Internet Ventures, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2009. Park City Television. Utah Blitz: Womens Football League. YouTube. Web. 30 Oct. 2012. "Sidelined: Why are there still no women coaching mens sports? And why dont we care?" Malady, Matthew. The Slate Group, a Divison of the Washing Post Company. 28 Sept 2012. Web. 24 Feb. 2009 Terkel Amanda. Ban On Women In Combat Is Discriminatory, High-Level Military Panel States. Huffington Post. HPMG News. TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. Web. 31 Oct 2012. Utah Blitz: Womens Football League. YouTube. Web.