Female Coaches & Referees

Over the course of the last year I have heard a number of accounts from female coaches about their experiences with (mostly male) referees. In short, female coaches in a variety of different sports, feel they are treated differently by referees.

For example, many female coaches have told me they say one thing such as, “Hey Ref, watch the hands” and get carded or given a technical foul, while their male counterpart down the sideline says the same thing and the Ref doesn’t even blink. One college soccer coach told me she swore about something on the field, not even about or to the Ref, and the sideline Ref turned around and told her that she was not being a good role model for her players…meanwhile the male coach of the other team is swearing a blue streak with no comment from the Ref.

Based on the experiences of female coaches I’ve spoke with, here is what I can summarize–In comparison to male colleague female coaches:

•  get penalized harsher
•  get penalized quicker
•  get penalized for less
•  get reprimanded or lectured to by referees
•  are talked down to in a very condescending manner by referees
•  are more often treated rudely by referees

Are these situations consistent with your experiences? Are there others I have missed? If so, I’d like to hear about it as I am beginning a new research project on this topic to bring awareness to this issue in order to create change.

KEY POINT:  what these female coaches are experiencing is good old fashioned sexism….one of the many barriers that female coaches face in the workplace (which I’ve written about previously here and here). I will be writing more about this topic in the future so stay tuned…but in the meantime, if you have a good example, send it to me at nmlavoi@umn.edu (don’t worry I won’t post it here, you’ll remain anonymous).