Racial and Gender Imbalance in School Sports Coaching

597 Words2 Pages

When it comes to coaching in secondary and post-secondary schools, there are many qualified professionals willing to put forth their best effort to do what they love. However, these people can be overshadowed by males; white males especially. Why does this happen? Many of the people in power are those who want to work with people who are just like them, so more and more white males get hired, even though there may be a more qualified coach. The ratio of student athletes’ race and the race of their coaches are severely skewed in favor of more diverse athletes and less diverse coaches. Female coaches are not represented to the level that they should be. They are almost non-existent in male sports (where males still make up a large portion of female coaching) and under-represented even in their own sports. White male dominance is an extreme predicament in collegiate sports because it leads to racism, sexism, and a lack of jobs and thus a lack of representation for What did this mean? It meant that women could no longer be discriminated against just for being women, for anything. Yet, today there is still a significantly low amount of female coaches in college sports. In 2014, the lowest the average is, is in Division 2 when the athletic director is male at only 35.1% of all coaching staff. The highest average is in Division 3 when the athletic director is female at 53.9%. It is the only condition across Division 1, 2, and 3 with male and female athletic directors that it is even close 50/50. The reason this happens in Division 3 is because they are generally smaller schools where there is less of a power operating everything. It is a more equal playing field. Why does this even happen in the first place? On average male sports generate more revenue than female sports, and that is a reason that many sexist men that are in power give. However, this should not impact the female athletics and what their coaching staff is comprised

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