In previous issues, I touched upon the major sport management areas. Now I want to focus on women in sport management and then, in the next issue, minorities in sport management. Both groups have traditionally been kept out of top sport management jobs.
ATHLETIC DIRECTORS
In 1992, 28% of Division I schools had no women in sports administration. (1)
In 1996, out of 305 athletic directors at Division I schools, 17 were women. Among 111 schools playing Division I-A football, only six had female ADs. (2)
Said Helen Smiley, AD at Western Illinois University, "People hire people they are comfortable with. It takes an effort to hire minorities and women and make them feel comfortable, especially when you are not used to certain kinds of people.
"There are very few of us at the Division I level with football programs. Some people think that because you haven't played a sport you can't direct it." (3)
At Division II schools in 1996, 38 ADs were women and at Division III, 83 were women. In total, at 994 NCAA schools, women were ADs at 138 schools (14%). Among 362 NAIA schools, more than one-fourth had female ADs. (4)
Since 1972, when Title IX (gender equity legislation) was implemented, the number of female administrators in women's sports programs has actually gone down. At that time 90% of college women's teams were run by women. By 1994, only 21% of women's athletic programs were run by women. (5)
The women who do rise to the top levels of college sport administration have been exceptionally qualified. For example, Sandy Barbour (appointed Tulane's AD in 1996) played field hockey and basketball at Wake Forest, served as an assistant lacrosse coach at the University of Massachusetts, and received a master's in sport management from UMass and a master's in management from Northwestern. She served seven years in the athletic department at Northwestern (five as an assistant AD), then six years as associate AD at Tulane before reaching the top spot. Said Buddy Teevens, then Tulane's football coach, "She's been a coach, she's been a recruiter, she's been a college athlete. Combine that with her administrative experience and it's obvious Sandy is very well qualified." (6)
According to Andrea Seger, AD at Ball State, the playing field is not level for women. "If you're a man, you're assumed to be competent. When you're female, you have to prove you're competent." (7)
Debbie Yow, AD at Maryland, has learned never to take her career for granted. "The older I get, I realize that there are talented people that don't get opportunities. Therefore, when I get the opportunity, I'd better make the most of it and the best of it." (8)
Seger, Yow, and other female ADs have faced bias and have learned how to deal with it. Said Yow, "This is the third conference I have worked in where I am the only female athletic director. At Maryland, people have been incredibly kind. There were a few Terrapin Club members who said that some were skeptical until they heard me speak. I say leadership is not a gender issue - it is a issue of preparation and experience." (9)
Part of the job includes overseeing male coaches. which often means downplaying gender differences. For example, after Ron Vanderlinden had been recruited by Yow to be head football coach at the University of Maryland, he said, "We talked for about an hour and a half. I had a good feeling about her. I didn't see her as a woman so much as I saw her as a supporter and an ally. She was very impressive. We meshed right away.
"She's tough, but I like that about her. You want an administrator who's going to battle for you." (10)
PROFESSIONAL SPORTS
Information on the number of women in pro sport management (other than baseball) has not been widely published.
According to a 1989 study conducted by the Amateur Athletic Foundation, women held one-third of the management positions in the National Basketball Association, but less than one percent in the National Football League. (11)
According to a study conducted by Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society, in 1996 women held 44% of the office jobs at NBA headquarters, 26% at the NFL, and 21% at baseball headquarters. (12)
According to another report about women in baseball, in 1996 women held 35% of front office jobs at the major league level. (13) In 1995, among 156 National Association-sponsored minor league teams, there were eight female general managers (two out of 28 at the Triple-A level and the rest at Class-A and rookie league teams).(14)
Female pro sports managers often talk about the hard work they've put into their jobs. For example. Belinda Wiggins is president and chief operating officer of the Richmond Renegades, a minor league hockey team in Virginia. She has been with the team since its inception in 1990 and has worked for three different owners. In her current position she oversees everything except player personnel decisions and on-ice team direction. "I've never encountered the first bit of negative feedback [about being female] from anyone here--not from the players, not from the coaching staff, not from anyone in management.
"I can be very demanding. It's tough on the staff sometimes because I've had to do everything they're doing and I've had to do it all at once. I've sold season tickets and handled group sales and answered the phone and put together the program--all at once. That's why I sometimes don't have a lot of patience when one person is asked to take care of one thing and doesn't get it done on time." (15)
OLYMPIC SPORTS
In 1995 only seven of 106 members of the International Olympic Committee were women. Only one woman, Anita DeFrantz, served on the executive committee. Only four women presided over international sports federations. Only six women (out of 197) headed national Olympic committees. (16)
In 1997, 10 out of 111 IOC members were women and DeFrantz was one of four IOC vice-presidents (the first woman ever to hold the position).
At the United States Olympic Committee, among top-level volunteer jobs in 1995, women held only three of 20 seats (15%) on the executive committee and 24 of 103 seats (23%) on the board. (17)
In 1997, among 355 positions on 20 USOC committees, 104 were given to women (up from 76 for the 1993-96 quadrennium). (18)
Among USOC paid positions in 1994, women held 6 of 28 (21%) senior staff positions and 74 of 185 (40%) professional positions. Out of all 498 employees, 252 (51%) were women. (19)
Among 39 United States sports federations (or national governing bodies), in 1994 women made up 42% of the athletes but only 29% of the board members. Among 37 national governing bodies of Olympic level sports in which both sexes compete, only seven had female executive directors (usually a paid job) and six had female presidents (usually a volunteer job). (20)
According to a different study, out of 71 U.S. national governing bodies, only 22% had female presidents and 24% had female executive directors. (21)
In 1994, among those working for the Atlantic Committee for the Olympics, women made up 60% of employees and held 40% of the management positions. (22)
When Tracey Williams served as assistant director of women's programs for USA Basketball (the first black female administrator in the history of the organization) she said, "Being the first black female, I have to be twice as good as anybody else. Everybody's counting on me--the people who have come and gone before me, the other athletes, the other minorities in the field of basketball. But I've got to do it for myself, too." (23) She is now director of player personnel for the ABL, one of the new women's pro basketball leagues.