I have been a member of the WOA (Washington Officials Association for one year now and after my short experience I had already noticed a lack of female officials. When I first joined the WOA there was about 20 other female first years along side me. By the end of my first season there was merely a handful. This is what lead me to do this research. I firmly believe that women are capable of doing whatever they want. In being an official, it does not matter what gender you are, but simply how you understand the sport and what being an official means. The main job of an official is to protect the players, and keep the game rolling in a safe and timely manner. Therefore, this being said, we should not look at what gender an official is, but rather whether or not they know the game. If a female wants to officiate the NFL, for example, then so be it. That female is demonstrating her knowledge of football. Most people think that in order to be an official, you should have first played the game you are officiating. One of our most experienced official of the WOA has officiated four different sports of all levels, and yet never played a single one of them. I played basketball for nearly 15 years, including AAU, middle school, and four years of high school varsity. My senior year of high school I was the player of the year for the IEL (Inland Empire League). Throughout my years of play I learned a lot about the sport, same with my teammates and parents that watched every one of my games. However, once I joined the WOA, what I thought I knew about the sport changed.
My very first week of training we had to read the entirety of every handbook we were given. After we read each handbook we had to take a test over it and pass it 100% or else we could not move on in our training. One of these tests were in person, with an experienced official to determine our mechanic skills and improve us where we needed it. Our other two tests were online, a multiple choice test asking us about rules both of the game we were going to officiate and general rules of being an official. For our test of the sport we were going to officiate, I wrote down the exact questions and did a brief survey. I asked some of my old teammates from high school, my parents, and some college basketball players I know. Everyone I asked was either unsure of the answer or thought they knew and realized they were wrong. There is a difference between being a fan of the game and think you know what's going on, and actually studying the rules of the game. Think about it; if you are ever near sports fans and see them yell at a referee and you asked them if they have read the rule book, what is the probability that they have?
My very first week of training we had to read the entirety of every handbook we were given. After we read each handbook we had to take a test over it and pass it 100% or else we could not move on in our training. One of these tests were in person, with an experienced official to determine our mechanic skills and improve us where we needed it. Our other two tests were online, a multiple choice test asking us about rules both of the game we were going to officiate and general rules of being an official. For our test of the sport we were going to officiate, I wrote down the exact questions and did a brief survey. I asked some of my old teammates from high school, my parents, and some college basketball players I know. Everyone I asked was either unsure of the answer or thought they knew and realized they were wrong. There is a difference between being a fan of the game and think you know what's going on, and actually studying the rules of the game. Think about it; if you are ever near sports fans and see them yell at a referee and you asked them if they have read the rule book, what is the probability that they have?
As I learned more about becoming a referee, I began to spread my new knowledge with my fellow sports fans. My parents, for example, were the most shocked. Throughout the years as I was playing basketball my parents would be sitting in the stands, making comments just like the rest of the people towards the officials. Sadly enough, I would have my few shares of comments to the officials as well. Now that I have learned about the sport by the book I have made many people change their actions and respect towards officials.
I would like to attempt and reason with viewers that think women have no right to wear the stripes and also explain why there is a lack of females that do wear the stripes.
To the people that believe women should not officiate, I am not trying to persuade you to change your mind, however, I hope you take information from this site into consideration, and if this still does not change your mind feel free to email me why. I am curious to hear what people think about female officials and why or why not they should exist.
Throughout my research, I have seen and heard people say many reasons why women should not be officials. For example, the most common reason I hear is simply because women are too weak and can not handle the pressure of officiating. Women are easily seduced especially in a situation such as refereeing. The players, coaches, and even fans are typically larger than a female official. Because of this, if a player, coach or fan approaches a female ref they will not be able to contain the situation and may let things get out of control and possibly let a fight break out. This is a valid concern seeing as though some females are either shy or don't like to stand up for themselves. However, an official is actually trained how to handle a situation such as this. The trainers of the WOA where I have been certified have told both male and female officials how to handle any spectator, player or coach that seems to get out of control. We handle this simply by not responding to comments, or engaging in anything and simply informing the game advisor, director, or manager the problem at hand and who all is involved. Because we are trained to do this, I can see why people believe women cannot handle the pressure, since it appears we are basically running from a fight. So in response to the comments of women cannot handle the pressure, it is simply how officials are trained to handle such situations to avoid being put in harmful situations.
Other comments that have been brought to my attention is that women should only do women's games because they can better relate to the type of game play. In some ways I can agree and relate to this statement. there are some different rules to boys versus girls games, however, that is a part of our training. having played in the past, yes it does make it easier to officiate girls games. Although, it was not hard and did not take long to learn how guys play and the rules to their games. As previously stated, you do not have to have past experience with the game to officiate it, it only helps out the learning process. Every official still has to go through training and it is in that training where you will learn how both girls and guys play. In relation to other sports such as football where 96% of the athletes are male, it does not matter. The official will still go through the proper training needed for that sport. So although it makes sense that a woman knows more about how women play, in the end it won't matter because every one learns both male and female games.
So why aren't there more women officials today? We have explored many factors that affect women officials, but maybe none of these factors are the real issue. It may be as simple as women do not want to take on the responsibility. Most male officials have more than that one job, since games may only take place on certain days of the week or later in the evenings. Women may not want to be responsible for more than one job, especially if they have kids, or schooling etc. Therefore, women may be capable of becoming an official, they just don't have the time. Also, it is to my understanding that it may be hard to find information on becoming and official. My advice for those curious to becoming an official is research Officials Association in your area and email someone from that contact list. Generally they can at least point you in the right direction or get you any information you need. A lot of organizations are looking to hire females interested in becoming an official. Even if you are curious as to what the job might be like, talk to someone. With the WOA we had the option to drop out at any time. I highly encourage anyone even remotely interested to give it a try. It is a life changing opportunity and an opportunity to help out us officials and spread knowledge to the fans. Feel free to email me as well with any questions you may have with my link at the top of the page.
I would like to attempt and reason with viewers that think women have no right to wear the stripes and also explain why there is a lack of females that do wear the stripes.
To the people that believe women should not officiate, I am not trying to persuade you to change your mind, however, I hope you take information from this site into consideration, and if this still does not change your mind feel free to email me why. I am curious to hear what people think about female officials and why or why not they should exist.
Throughout my research, I have seen and heard people say many reasons why women should not be officials. For example, the most common reason I hear is simply because women are too weak and can not handle the pressure of officiating. Women are easily seduced especially in a situation such as refereeing. The players, coaches, and even fans are typically larger than a female official. Because of this, if a player, coach or fan approaches a female ref they will not be able to contain the situation and may let things get out of control and possibly let a fight break out. This is a valid concern seeing as though some females are either shy or don't like to stand up for themselves. However, an official is actually trained how to handle a situation such as this. The trainers of the WOA where I have been certified have told both male and female officials how to handle any spectator, player or coach that seems to get out of control. We handle this simply by not responding to comments, or engaging in anything and simply informing the game advisor, director, or manager the problem at hand and who all is involved. Because we are trained to do this, I can see why people believe women cannot handle the pressure, since it appears we are basically running from a fight. So in response to the comments of women cannot handle the pressure, it is simply how officials are trained to handle such situations to avoid being put in harmful situations.
Other comments that have been brought to my attention is that women should only do women's games because they can better relate to the type of game play. In some ways I can agree and relate to this statement. there are some different rules to boys versus girls games, however, that is a part of our training. having played in the past, yes it does make it easier to officiate girls games. Although, it was not hard and did not take long to learn how guys play and the rules to their games. As previously stated, you do not have to have past experience with the game to officiate it, it only helps out the learning process. Every official still has to go through training and it is in that training where you will learn how both girls and guys play. In relation to other sports such as football where 96% of the athletes are male, it does not matter. The official will still go through the proper training needed for that sport. So although it makes sense that a woman knows more about how women play, in the end it won't matter because every one learns both male and female games.
So why aren't there more women officials today? We have explored many factors that affect women officials, but maybe none of these factors are the real issue. It may be as simple as women do not want to take on the responsibility. Most male officials have more than that one job, since games may only take place on certain days of the week or later in the evenings. Women may not want to be responsible for more than one job, especially if they have kids, or schooling etc. Therefore, women may be capable of becoming an official, they just don't have the time. Also, it is to my understanding that it may be hard to find information on becoming and official. My advice for those curious to becoming an official is research Officials Association in your area and email someone from that contact list. Generally they can at least point you in the right direction or get you any information you need. A lot of organizations are looking to hire females interested in becoming an official. Even if you are curious as to what the job might be like, talk to someone. With the WOA we had the option to drop out at any time. I highly encourage anyone even remotely interested to give it a try. It is a life changing opportunity and an opportunity to help out us officials and spread knowledge to the fans. Feel free to email me as well with any questions you may have with my link at the top of the page.