WNBA report card: women's basketball league falls short in promoting diversity

Black Enterprise, Nov, 2008 by Carolyn M. Brown

THE WOMEN'S NATIONAL, BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION IS playing fair in the sports arena and bests other pro sports leagues in both race and gender, according to the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES). TIDES awarded the WNBA an overall A+ in its 2008 Racial and Gender Report Card, which assesses hiring practices in professional and amateur sports in the U.S. For issues of gender, an A is earned if 40% of the employees are women; for race, an A is given if 24% of positions are held by persons of color.

But a closer look at the report reveals that white men continue to dominate the WNBA in all non-player areas. The WNBA is the youngest of the pro leagues yet it still has significant shortcomings when it comes to hiring women and ethnic minorities.

The latest WNBA report card shows that during the 2007 season, there were some percentage gains in the ethnic breakdown of head coaches, presidents/CEOs, league office staff, head trainers, and players. African Majority American head coaches increased to five in the 2008 season from just three Owners in 2007, with one African American female head coach out of a total of four female head coaches. In both 2007 and 2008, the numbers in top management remained at four women and two

African Americans as team presidents/CEOs. No person of color owned a WNBA franchise in 2007. In 2006, Sheila Johnson became the first African American woman to hold any ownership in a WNBA team. She was named managing partner of the Washington Mystics when Lincoln Holdings L.L.C. acquired the team. (Johnson owns 6% to 7% of Lincoln Holdings.)

From 2006 to 2007, minority personnel lost positions as general managers, vice presidents, assistant coaches, and senior administrators. Women lost ground as assistant coaches, league office personnel, team physicians, and head trainers.

"As in previous reports, the data shows that professional sports' front office hiring practices do not nearly reflect the number of players of color competing in the game." says Richard Lapchick, author of the report and TIDES founder. However, Lapchick adds that even in those sports where grades are low, they generally have better records of race and gender hiring than society does as a whole."

THE WNBA DIVERSITY SCORECARD

                          +X% Change from    NC NO change
                           previous year
Majority Owners

RACE
White                          100%             NC
Black                           33%           +13%
Other

GENDER
Men                             67%            13%
Women

General Managers

RACE
White                           79%            -6%
Black                           21%            +6%
Other

GENDER
Men                             43%            -3%
Women                           57%            +3%

Players (2007 (figures)

RACE
White                           35%            -1%
Black                           63%             NC
Other                            2%            +1%

GENDER
Men
Women

Head Coaches

RACE
White                           4%             13%
Black                          36%             13%
Other

GENDER
Men                            64%             -5%
Women                          36%             +5%

CEOs and Presidents

RACE
White                          87%              NC
Black                          13%              NC
Other

GENDER
Men                            73%              NC
Women                          27%              NC

Note: Table mad from pie chart.