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While the sports media often criticize the NFL commissioner for not being progressive enough, NBA commissioner Adam Silver has an excellent reputation for standing up for social justice issues. His recent statement on a gender quota for coaches and referees will only help him in his progressive qualifications.
At an event organized Thursday by the Economic Club of Washington, DC, Silver presented his new "goal" for the league that he runs: a 50/50 hiring ratio. men / women for coaches and referees.
Speaking of referees currently in the league, Silver lamented that the position is "so dominated by men for so long". His new goal: that half of the new referees recruited by the league be women.
"It's an area, frankly, where I recognized that I did not really know how he had stayed so long dominated by men," said Silver, in comments reported by The Associated Press. "Because it's an area of the game where physically, there is no benefit to being a man, as opposed to a woman, when it comes to refereeing."
Silver pointed out that the league had almost reached its quota of women in the last round of hiring: two of the last five referees who left the Development League for Development were women. In total, this makes three women officials currently in the league.
But it's not just women referees that he wants to add at an aggressive pace, it's also the coaches.
"The goal is: to go forward, there should be about 50-50 new officials entering the league," he said, adding quickly: "Ditto for coaches, by the way We also have a program.There is no reason for women not to coach men's basketball. "
The two new officials, Ashley Moyer-Gleich and Natalie Sago, were both promoted from the development league to full-time NBA referees in November, reports Bleacher Report. "They joined Lauren Holtkamp as the only women referees in the NBA, although Violet Palmer and Dee Kantner also officiated in the league."
AP reports that three teams have recently added coaches to their staff. The first to add a full-time paid assistant coach in the NBA was the San Antonio Spurs, who hired the former WNBA leader in 2014. "As 5-foot-6 goalkeeper, Becky Hammon, WNBA veteran has never had the experience of breaking a board with a dunk, "ESPN reported at the time. "She breaks rather through the glass ceiling."
In 2018, Hammon became the first woman to interview for a head coach position, which SB Nation was describing at the time as something that "revealed a bias in coaching recruitments. of the NBA ". Since the senior coaching position recently opened at the LA Lakers, the names of Hammon have been mentioned in recent days, but many analysts warn it. do not to take if offered because of "dysfunction" in Los Angeles.
The Washington Wizards also recently hired a woman as assistant coach, Kristi Toliver of the Washington Mystics, while the Indiana Pacers marked history by naming a woman, Kelly Krauskopf, to the position of assistant general manager, AP says.
Related: How much money did Kaepernick get from the NFL Settlement? Report: Much less than you think.
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