Gender Battles–Off the Field
As South Carolina looks for a new women’s basketball coach, debates heating up about whether they should hire a man or a woman to coach the team.
It’s an age old battle of the sexes in a modern day context. Some argue that the university should hire the best ‘man’…ahem..or woman for the job, regardless of gender. Others think that a woman should coach a women’s team and that women should be privileged even if they aren’t the best candidate.
According to an article on the State.com “Connecticut’s Geno Auriemma, the most successful male coach in the history of women’s basketball, says his gender is discriminated against in hiring because it is not “politically correct” these days for athletics directors to hire males.”
But “Tennessee’s Pat Summitt, the most successful female coach in the history of women’s basketball, says men cannot accept the kind of discriminatory practices women have dealt with for decades in college athletics.”
So what should be done? Are athletic college teams a place for affirmative action? Should a man be hired if he is better for the job or should a woman be hired for a woman’s team even if she isn’t the best ‘man’ for the job?
Check back tomorrow and I will give you my two cents.
Photograph: Barun Singh
This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 at 1:05 pm and is filed under Gender and Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 6th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I think that this would be something very appropriate for your website to talk about. Women and girls need to be considered equals in life, and as my story shows, girls can earn the respect they deserve. A very young girls’ soccer team played in a league that they dominated. The girls won every game, even against other girls that were older than them. Their coach made a bold move and put them into the boys league. This was met with some criticism, but as the girls did exceptionally well, it made people stop and think about what was fair and right concerning girls and boys. People should not be discriminated against based on gender, and these girls overcame that discrimination. Watch the trailer at http://www.kicklikeagirlmovie.com and see what you think.