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In many countries, women have usually been seen as the weaker links. Men are looked at as the more dominant and aggressive gender while women are supposed to be weak and gentle. This is one of the main arguments as to why females have limited roles in male dominant sports such as football, basketball, soccer, and baseball. The media often times does not cover these women who do hold roles and those men in positions above them usually put these women on a back burner.

Fans

A large, growing demographic in male dominant sports is the presence of women in the stands. In 2016 alone, women accounted for over 35% of the fans who viewed NFL games. Since the male percentage of viewers has practically maxed out, the continuation of the growth of many sports teams depends on more women getting involved in their league and programs. Most women in sports are only seen as consumers and not as fans which tends to sway them away from involvement. As female fans are started to be looked on as equivalent to their male counter parts, the bases will grow.

Analysts

Since 1919, Doris Bourke has been the most well-known female analyst on television. She was the first female analyst to ever call a Knicks game on the radio and on television and will now make history as the first full-time game analyst for the NBA. Both Sarah Kustok and Kara Washington were hired during the 2017-2018 season by the Nets and Wizards respectively. They will become among the first primary female analysts for their NBA teams.

The first woman to do a full play-by-play analysis of an NHL game was Sherry Ross in 2009. Less than a full 2 years later in 2011, Kathryn Tappens began covering NHL games on NHL Tonight and soon moved to NBC in the summer of 2014.

Announcers

In 1987, Gayle Sierens became the first female to call a play-by-play of an NFL game in the final week of the season. That was the first and only time a female had ever called a game until 30 years later on September 11, 2017 when Beth Mowins commentated a game.

When watching the NBA, it is more common to hear a female voice mixed in with her male counterparts. It is also very easy to spot these female announcers since there are only four of them: Lisa Salter, Kristen Ledlow, Cheryl Miller, and Ann Meyers for the WNBA. Miller began her announcing career back in 1995 for the NBA on TBS and TNT. Salter, for many, is the most popular female sports reporter. She began her career on ABC back in 2000 and has become one of the most recognizable faces of the few female announcers in the NBA

Referees

In 1997, Violet Palmer became the first female referee in the National Basketball Association. This move also made her the first female official in any United States, professional sport. Though she is now retired, the NBA has another female referee, Lauren Holtkamp, who is currently the only female referee in the NBA. Though they are not seen as much as the men since the females are clearly outnumbers, both male and female referees have to endure the same training and have the same knowledge for the game of basketball.

It has been 20 years since the NBA first received a female referee, but that is very different for the NFL. On April 8, 2015, the NBA decided that Sarah Thomas would permanently become the first and only full-time female officiator for the NFL. This 2017 season will make up her third season that she has been officiating.

Other mainstream sports, such as soccer, have many female referees and some, such as baseball, have never had a female referee (umpire) and will not for years to come.

Trainers

Trainers help prepare athletes for games or recover from injuries. They aren't often seen because they are usually in the locker room or behind the team on the sideline and female trainers are just as rare. In 2002, the National Football League hired their first full-time female trainer, Ariko Iso. She is currently an athletic trainer for the Pittsburgh Steelers (2017). There hasn't been another female trainer since her.

The Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball hired Sue Falsone who became the first female trainer in the history of the MLB in 2012. She stepped down in October of 2013 and still remains the only woman who has held a major training role in the MLB.

In the NBA, female trainer are rare but they are more common as physical and massage therapist. Nina Hsieh is one notable assistant athletic trainer for the Los Angeles Lakers. She has a track record of being a great trainer at both the collegiate and professional level.

Coaches

There has never been a female, head coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Women aren’t respected as much as men and many men refuse to allow women to have a more dominant role over them. Female coaches are more common in the WNBA where the coaching staff is dominated by women mainly because it is more relatable for women to listen to other women.

During the summer of 2017, a handful or females attended training camps as coaching interns for the National Football League. In the entire history of the NFL, there has only ever been one woman in a coaching position up until 2017. Katie Sowers is only an offensive assistant coach for the 49ers and she just accquired her job in 2017. More recently, the Buffalo Bills hired Kathryn Smith. Executives such as Scott Pioloi plan on making the appearance of women in the NFL more of a mainstream seen.