"Racial and Gender Report Card; Minorities, Women Losing Ground in Sports"

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I chose “Racial and Gender Report Card; Minorities, Women Losing Ground in Sports” by Robert Johnson because it explains how the trend of women and minorities in the sports-related workplace that was increasing has not improved as much as many people thought it would over the years.

This article explains how a study was held that found, “Every professional sport had lower averages for employing women compared with the last Racial and Gender Report Card two years ago, and minority hiring slipped in pro and college sports.” Minorities have lost ground in important management positions in the world of college and pro sports. Some of these positions include that of athletic directors, team vice presidents, and general managers. An example of such is that in the NHL, as of 2002, there were only three minority head coaches in the league, which was an all-time low since the 1991 season. In addition, as of the 2002 season, there were only 16 minority players in the league. The writer comments that the world of sports has to keep adding minorities and women to their executive positions to make the trend more common so that the organization becomes more diversified.

“Racial and Gender Report Card; Minorities, Women Losing Ground in Sports” relates to class material in that it discusses the role of minorities in the workplace. In relation, according to Allan G. Johnson in “Privilege, Oppression, and Difference,” the idea of privilege exists when, “One group has something of value that is denied to others simply because of the groups they belong to, rather than because of anything they’ve done or failed to do.” This is the case in “Racial and Gender Report Card; Minorities, Women Losing Ground in Sports” because the women and minorities are denied the rights and opportunities that white men receive in the industry merely because they are not of the same ethnic group or of the same sex. In addition, this article can be related to another we read in class by Allan G. Johnson, entitled, “Capitalism, Class, and the Matrix of Domination.” Johnson explains that, “Capitalism also shapes and makes use of gender inequality. The cultural devaluing of women, for example, has long been used as an excuse to pay them less and exploit them as a source of cheap labor.” He goes on to say that, “Women’s supposed inferiority has also been used as a basis for the belief that much of the work that women do isn’t work at all and therefore isn’t worthy of anything more than emotional compensation.” These thoughts trigger those in the sports-related workplaces to not long to employ women in such important positions due to the belief of the inability to handle such pressure.

I think that “Racial and Gender Report Card; Minorities, Women Losing Ground in Sports” is a commendable article because it discusses the lack of importance that women and minorities have in the job fields related to college and professional sports teams. They could do just as well of a job as any white male in the industry could do, but yet are not allowed to prove themselves. This is the case in many other workplaces as well and should be changed before their roles become too scarce. However, it is plausible that the author of the article explained that they are trying to rebuild the roles of women minorities in the sports area to create more diversity.