This past election cycle saw a record number of (almost entirely Democratic) women run and win office across the country. That’s in politics. In sports, Muffet McGraw is the head coach of the Notre Dame women’s basketball team that made it all the way to the finals against Baylor in the NCAA Women’s Championship Sunday night. On Thursday of last week, during a press conference, McGraw was asked about her position on women in sports, and more specifically about her “voice” and outspoken criticism of hiring practices in the professional and collegiate athletic systems in our country. McGraw isn’t just talk; for the last seven seasons, Notre Dame’s women’s basketball program has had an all-female coaching staff. Conservative outlets recently criticized her after reports came out that she very openly said that she has no plans to ever hire a male coach. And so, while the opening question of Thursday’s press conference was about how “serious” McGraw took her position as a powerful advocate for equal rights in sports, McGraw decided it was important to remind everyone of the facts of the matter. There has yet to be any equality for women anywhere.
McGraw: Did you know that the Equal Rights Amendment was introduced in 1967, and it still hasn't passed? We need 38 states to agree that discrimination on the basis of sex is unconstitutional. We've had a record number of women running for office and winning, and still we have 23 percent of the House and 25 percent of the Senate. I'm getting tired of the novelty of the first ... female governor of this state, the first female African-American mayor of this city. When is it gonna become the norm instead of the exception? How are these young women, looking up and seeing someone that looks like them, preparing them for the future? We don't have enough female role models. We don't have enough visible women leaders. We don't have enough women in power.
Girls are socialized to know when they come out, gender roles are already set—men run the world. Men have the power. Men make the decisions. It is always the men that is the stronger one. And when these girls are coming out, who are they looking up to to tell them that that's not the way it has to be, and where better to do that than in sport?. All these millions of girls that play sports across the country, they could come out every day—and we're teaching them great things about life skills—but wouldn't it be great if we could teach them to watch how women lead? This is a path for you to take, to get to the point where in this country we have 50 percent of women in power? We have, right now, less than 5 percent of women are CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. So yes, when you look at men's basketball and 99 percent of the jobs go to men, why shouldn't 100 or 99 percent of the jobs in women's basketball go to women? Maybe it's because we only have 10 percent women athletic directors in Division I? People hire people who look like them, and that's the problem.
Power. Watch the clip below the fold.
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