Portland State Magazine Winter 1991

• Women Coaches: Sitting out the game? Women' s college athletics have grown dramatically in the last 20 years, and yet there has been a noticable decrease in the number of women coaches and administrators. By Chris Normandin H ang out at the gyms and playing fields of America' s colleges and you·11 find more women competing in a wider variety of sports. But don' t ex pect to find many women making major plays as uni vers ity head coaches or admini strators. The absence of women coaches and athletic administrators is a striking feature across the country. Prior to the 1970s, women 's athletic programs in high school s and colleges were low-key compared to the more popular men's programs. Most people viewed • women' s sports as recreational or simply as an extension of the school' s physical education classes. Back then, 90 percent of the ex isting women's college teams were coached and administered by women. • In 1972, Title IX, a federal law prohibiting discrimination against women and minorities, started a new wave of opportunity for women athletes in hi gh. schools and colleges. Funding for women ' s sports increased and participation grew by leaps and bounds. Today, about 35 percent of the partici– pants in intercollegiate athletics are women. And at the high school level, participation runs about 50 percent. On the other hand , the number of women who coach women's intercollegiate sports has dropped from 90 percent to less than 44 percent. In add ition, 85 percent of all intercoll eg iate women's programs are now admini stered by men. Th irty-two percent of the programs have no females employed as athletic directors, or assoc iate or ass istant athletic directors. What accounts for this pronounced exodus of women from the ranks of women 's sports? PSU17