Where are the Female Coaches?

The lack of female coaches in North American is an ever-growing problem. We live in a generation that has more woman playing and succeeding in sports than ever before but, there are still a lack of female coaches. This problem is evident in all professional sports, but it is also a problem right here at Wilfrid Laurier.

In a generation where there are more options for female sports and more females participating in sports, doesn’t it make sense to hire more female coaches? Apparently not. Here at Laurier there is currently only one female head coach. Lynn Orth is the coach of Laurier’s woman’s lacrosse team and is the only female head coach currently at Laurier.

According to the Canadian Journal of Woman’s coaching, a 2008 national survey showed that women outnumber men in playing 6 of the 10 most popular sports. Here at Laurier there are a growing number of woman sports available, still not as much as men, but the number is growing. All but one of these are coached by males. This leads me to question the bias and gender roles that are often portrayed in coaching.  Stereotype’s suggest that the head coach is normally male, possible with a female behind the scenes, female physio’s, administrators and so on. However, this is not just a stereotype that you may read about, this is evident in numerous universities across Ontario and right here at Laurier.

At Laurier, 13 of the 23 employed in the administrative section of athletics are female. This shows that they are given equal opportunities behind the scenes but not given the same opportunity to coach the teams. The Laurier coaching roster proves the point that gender roles in coaching are a serious problem. The lack of female coaches proves that there is still a bias towards men when it comes to sports and shows that they favour men when it comes to coaching.