Being an only child, I have always had a close relationship with my parents. My relationship with my mom and dad each have their individual aspects, but my dad and I have always enjoyed watching football together. Wait, yes, you read that correctly, I watch football with my dad and actually enjoy it. Yes, I am also a girl.
When I tell most people, especially guys, that I am a football fan, they either write me off by changing the subject or flat out tell me that I know nothing about football. This is absolutely crazy considering as soon as another guy begins to say something about football, they jump at the chance to talk about it. Just because I am a girl does not mean that I don't know anything about the sport. I do know what a wheel route is and I do know when there should be a flag for off-sides and false starts. I know the difference between a center, running back, wide receiver, quarterback, linebacker, corners, etc. However, according to most people, there's no way that I know all of that, or I'm wrong in my understanding of it, or I don't know enough. Don't get me wrong, the world has come far in gender equality but sexism is still very alive and well.
The NFL has made leaps and bounds in hiring women for coaching staff positions. The Cardinals were the first to hire a woman, Jen Welter, on the coaching staff. Welter was hired as a linebackers coach for the summer preseason, which was only technically a part-time job. In January of this year, Kathryn Smith was hired to the full-time coaching staff of the Bills. Her official position is quality control-special teams which is entry-level, technically, but this gives her the stepping-stone she needs to climb the coaching ladder and with experience and training, she can go further than any women in the industry have gone in regards to coaching.
There have been scouts in the NFL that have been women and have excelled at their jobs, but the fact that you can basically count all of the women that have positions in the industry on your hands is a sad fact. Hopefully other NFL teams will take notice and jump on the progressive bandwagon of gender equality in this industry. Just remember, someone's sex does not determine their level of education on certain issues or activities.
