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March 04, 2008

Women Sports Executives

As Americans debate whether a woman is our best choice to run the country, male professional sports teams may become the final frontier for women's leadership.

Very interesting piece in The Boston Globe about women in top management posts in major league sports. Here's an interesting pack of statistics the story presents:

An analysis of staff directories from the 122 franchises comprising Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, National Football League, and National Hockey League revealed 10.8 percent of vice president positions or higher were filled by females. Subtract the women in non-revenue-producing departments (media/community relations, special events, human resources, and legal), which typically do not make decisions affecting the team, and the number plummets to 6.2 percent. Women like Ng and Yankees vice president and assistant general manager Jean Afterman, and Phoenix Suns vice president Ann Meyers Drysdale fill only 2.1 percent of team management positions. By comparison, women occupy 16.4 percent of corporate officer positions - vice president or higher - in Fortune 500 companies.
Ng refers to Kim Ng, VP and assistant general manager (GM) of the LA Dodgers. She was passed over for the GM position in 2005 after eight years as an assistant GM for the NY Yankees and the Dodgers, during which time she helped assemble teams that made five playoff bids and won three World Series titles. The job went to a guy who had been assistant GM with the San Fransisco Giants. (She's with Paul DePodesta, Dodgers' GM from 2004 to 2005 at spring training in the photo.)

Well, I guess it's still only 35 years after Title IX enactment... Even though the first women who grew up under Title IX are now of an age appropriate for corporate vice presidents and such, perhaps the boys that grew up with Title IX haven't reached an age appropriate to being the ones who are hiring these qualified women execs.

The story quotes Wellesley psychology professor Linda Carli: "There's lingering doubt about a woman's ability to do [the job], but it's not like you have a gene for understanding who makes a good baseball player. That's ridiculous."

23:40 Posted in Business of Sport , issues & ethics | Permalink | Email this