Who's Calling the Shots? Women Coaches in Division I Women's Sports^*

Abstract

During the past 30 years, women have become an increasingly small proportion of coaches of women's sports. We test several explanations for why some institutions have women coaches and others do not. Copyright (c) 2007 by the Southwestern Social Science Association.

Gender (In)equality: A Longitudinal Analysis of Women's Participation in Coaching and Referee Positions in the Brazilian Women’s Basketball League (2010-2017)

“…On the other hand, previous studies showed that only 7% of the Brazilian head coaches in different sports are female (Ferreira et al, 2013), which makes the women's basketball context a less unequal workplace regarding gender issues. Similarly, Welch and Sigelman (2007) found in Division I Women's Sports that women coaches are more prevalent in basketball than in three other team sports. These results suggest that women`s basketball is a sport in which women achieve a higher proportion of head coaching positions, compared to other women's sports.…”

“…For example, in the United States, 65.8% of the assistant coaches in women's basketball and 57.4% of the head coaches in women's basketball were female, according to a 2010 study (Walker & Bopp, 2010). In Division I Women's Sports, Welch and Sigelman (2007) found that women coaches are most prevalent in basketball compared to volleyball, soccer and softball. Although the representation of women in the sports workplace, and more specifically in basketball, is well-known in the United States, it may differ in other societies and cultural contexts, due to their particular social constructions and structural and symbolic gender arrangements.…”

Coaches' Justifications for Male Dominance in Coaching

“…Overall women comprise only about 20.6% of head coaching positions (Carpenter and Acosta 2008). This pattern is unique, with no previous evidence of female occupations becoming largely male, as they have with regard to men coaching women's sports (Welch and Sigelman 2007).…”

“…Further, as adults, women face greater pressure to tend to home and family -even if they are working. Coaching may be regarded as incompatible with family life, especially long hours, travel, and inflexible time commitments (Acosta and Carpenter 1985;Everhart and Chelladurai 1998;Pastore, Inglis, and Danylchuk 1996;Welch and Sigelman 2007). Further research confirmed that human capital is a substantive contributor gender inequality in coaching (Knoppers, Meyer, Ewing, and Forrest 1989;Sagas and Cunningham 2004).…”

“…However, women's role in coaching and administrative positions followed the opposite pattern (Everhart and Chelladurai 1998;Welch and Sigelman 2007). When Title IX was enacted in 1972 approximately 90% of women's teams were coached by women; in 2008 that number dropped to 42.8%, one of the lowest numbers since 1972.…”