The article that I have chosen to discuss today is “Beating men opened doors for athletes.” The author, Tucker, discusses the evolution of women in sports and famous groundbreaking moments for women in sports. The women’s athletic movement began in the 1970’s with Billie Jean King’s famous “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match, and continues today with female athletes like Candace Parker, Annika Sorenstam, and Danica Patrick.
Women sports in America have come a long way in my short time on earth; I still remember the summer the WNBA was launched. With that being said I don’t thing it is neither fair nor possible to compare women sports to their male counterparts. Being an African American male in America, I can directly relate to women and their attempt to break through the coaching, managing, and team ownership barrier. No matter how drastically sport has changed over the years the front office seems to stay the same, still dominated by white males. Women and every other demographic group for that nature take a back seat to white males when it comes to collegiate head coaches and athletic directors. As Tucker puts it, “leadership is not a gender issue; it is a reflection of education, experience and a propensity for the work” (Tucker, 2008). I couldn’t agree more with this statement. Athletic director’s work in the office, they don’t have to tackle, pass, block, dribble, or kick. Their sole responsibility is to make sure the day-to-day operations of the University and its student-athletes goes according to plain. In my eyes and probably a lot of other males; sports and males have always had a positive correlation which makes it difficult to let a women lead an aspect of our society that most notably associated with men.
The great thing about this article is that women are making progress, the percentage of women AD’s is up to 21.3% (Tucker, 2008). Each day sport as a whole evolves into something many never thought it would become. I could invasions a future where WNBA players would be paid on par with their NBA counterparts, and maybe even a Co-ed all-star game between the two.
2 comments:
I agree with your comments on the state of women and other demographic groups not being able to break through the barriers in coaching and management of sports organizations. According to a study done by Richard Lapchick in 2007 on 119 Division 1-A programs, out of the 358 campus leadership positions only 48 were held by women. This number is far too low for women to have any impact on these programs. Additionally, only 17 of the athletic directors at these institutions were non-white and only 6% of head coaches were non-white. One thing that I have noticed is that women are not even holding the majority of head coaching positions among women's sports. In 1972, 90% of women's teams were coaching women's sports. These numbers have continually gone down with 2006's total being at 42%.
Although I agree with your comments that women are making progress in the percentage of AD's, this progress is failing in other areas such as head coaching jobs. Additionally, how do you feel about women coaching in men's sports? Do you think that since men are coaching women's sports the opposite can occur?
Also, it is nice to envision the future where WNBA players were on even pay scales with NBA players, however how long do you think something like this would take to happen? or would this ever happen?
Steve brings up some great observations in response to your entry on this article, Nick. I would be interested to know your response to some of his questions--e.g., what about women coaching men's teams? That is not even taken into account in the figures that we had from Carpenter and Acosta.
On another note, I can appreciate the parallel that you drew between the inequalities that African-Americans and women face in coaching, administration, and ownership positions. Interestingly, I think there is a parallel with what happened for African American leadership in baseball after Jackie Robinson crossed the color barrier. While it opened the doors for African American baseball players, it ultimately spelled the demise of the Negro Leagues, which had provided many jobs for African Americans--not only as players, but also as managers, owners and other administrative positions. The same thing happened when the NCAA took over governance of women's sport--i.e., it may have provided greater opportunities and visibility for women, but it also resulted in a sharp decline in positions of leadership. So, you can see that there are parallels.
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