Throughout history, women in the United States have fought long and hard for equality in all the overlapping realms of life whether that be political, social, economic, academic, etc.
Unfortunately in previous years and currently we have been exposed to women's coaches more often. There was never a moment in time when women were given an opportunity for equality even if they won any political and economical victories for equality for the U.S. It didn’t matter at that time and didn’t make any difference to make a change.
“As we see in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was the first wave of feminism that sought equal rights and opportunities and greater personal freedom for women”, says in an article by Britannica.
Professor of History Kelli McCoy said, “ One of the major victories was the 19th amendment, in which women won the right to vote nationwide in 1920. That political victory took over 70 years to achieve. Other major legal victories came in the 1960s and 1970s, when U.S. courts began to recognize, one court case at a time, that the law should not discriminate based on sex.” As time went by in the 1970s, most of the fight for gender equality explicitly discriminated against women.
“This led to victories like the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and court cases that determined the government and employers cannot discriminate based on sex. However, that did not necessarily change attitudes and beliefs about women in society, so since the 1970s much of the effort towards women's equality has been focused on changing ideas, not just laws”, Mccoy states.
A women’s pursuit of equal, high-level education was denied; schools and colleges could set higher admissions requirements for women. It gradually shifted as co-ed institutions and women's colleges began creating new opportunities.
According to an article written by Best Colleges, “In 1837, Oberlin opened its doors to all students, including women and people of color. Access to higher education created new opportunities for previously excluded students.”
Although with co-ed institutions, it did not change how gender equality was being viewed and treated. Women got the opportunity to have an education but that did not change their acceptance in society. Then in 1972 everything changed, Title IX transformed educational rights including female athletics in the United States.
“The Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits discrimination based on sex in education programs receiving Federal financial assistance.” “Athletics are considered an integral part of an institution's education program and therefore are covered by law”, according to the US Department of Education.
McCoy states, “Before it passed, there was very little support or funding for women's athletics in the U.S. As with other areas of educational opportunities, Title IX created athletic opportunities for women. Also, their participation in athletics at every level has grown considerably since then.”
There was more participation in sports which gave “women athletes the right to have equal opportunities in educational institutions that receive federal funds, from elementary schools and universities”, states the Women’s Sports Foundation. Specifically following that, the underrepresentation of female coaches is something that we do not see back then.
PLNU Head coach Charity Elliot says, “Women coaches tend to be seen as really aggressive and harsh or soft and too easy. I am not aware that very many women coaches are seen as in the middle, I would say people think that I am fairly aggressive and that can be interpreted differently than what men coaches are perceived.”
While male and female coaches are different in many ways, despite there being a lot of female players, coaching remains male dominant.
An article written by The Campanile states, “Still, the ratio of female and male coaches shows a clear imbalance of genders.”
“According to a survey conducted by the Sports and Fitness Industry Association in 2015, out of more than 6.5 million adults who coach youth teams up to the age fourteen, only 27% are women.” Today, we see that number slowly starting to increase but it is still underrepresented.
Many female athletes tend to prefer female coaches as men might prefer male coaches. To both genders, it might be more relatable to their individual self and their experiences. Every great athlete is under great guidance to be the best that they possibly can be, to each their own.
Jessica Walton states, “I think because it was so normal to me, I didn’t see that there was something wrong with most of the coaches being males but when I became a coach I did see the difference of having a male coach vs a women coach. “For instance, the male coaches treated and talked to the female players if they were boys.”
Elliot says, “I think for sure female coaches have a greater understanding obviously because we think the same in a lot of ways but I don't think that necessarily translates to a male coach being unable to do a good job coaching women. “ I believe that if women had the same opportunity to coach male athletes.”
As this follows into the modern-day, female coaches are being more represented in a way that is more acceptable in today’s society. For instance, the Major League Baseball (MLB) team hires the first female full-time coach in league history.
According to an article written by The Washington Post, “The San Francisco Giants announced Thursday that they hired the first full-time female coach in Major League Baseball history. Manger Gabe Kapler stated, “ Alyssa Nakken, a former standout softball player at Sacramento State, will be tasked with “helping to build a winning culture in the clubhouse.”
There have been earned opportunities in MLB for women not only in the athletes but also at many well-known companies like ESPN. For instance “Justine Siegal, who in 2011 became the first woman to throw batting practice for an MLB squad, Jessica Mendoza, an ESPN analyst who was hired by the New York Mets, Veronica Alvarez, who worked last spring with A’s minor leaguers as a special guest instructor, with a focus on catchers, Rachel Folden, as the Chicago Cubs’ lead hitting lab tech and fourth coach for their Rookie League team in Mesa, Arizona” and many more other leaders."
Therefore, the sports industry of female representation is slowly but surely changing. As time goes by, one after another, female representation is starting to become more accepted throughout our society.
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