In the three decades since the passage of Title IX, women’s participation in collegiate athletics has expanded dramatically, yet the entrance of women into collegiate coaching positions has not kept pace.  Less than two percent of men’s teams, and only 44.1 percent of women’s teams have women as head coaches, and the latter is close to the lowest figure in the post Title IX era.  Given most coaches come from the ranks of collegiate and high school athletes, this finding is surprising and disturbing. 

The CAGE project generated research to answer the question: why are women under represented in the ranks of collegiate coaches and Athletic Directors?  The purpose in addressing this question was to shed light on methods for improving gender equity in collegiate athletics.  Four subsidiary questions were involved:

• Are women not entering the field?
• Are women entering but not staying in the field?
• Are there barriers to the movement and promotion of women? And
• Do work and family responsibilities play a role here?

Colleges and universities have an interest in improving this situation to:

• enlarge the talent pool from which coaches are drawn,
• improve the overall quality of coaching, and
• enhance gender equity across the ranks of their employees.

 Improvement of the gender mix of coaches and athletic administrators could also:

• increase the probability that young girls will take up athletics and therefore enjoy related health and character-building benefits, and
• increase the likelihood that collegiate women athletes will perceive coaching as a viable option for their future.

See the report here: http://lsir.la.psu.edu/workfam/CAGE.htm