Why University of Notre Dame Women's Basketball Coach Muffet McGraw Says She'll Only Hire Women
It’s a pretty big weekend in the world of college basketball: Both the women’s and men’s national champions will be decided over the course of the coming days. The University of Notre Dame‘s women’s team (who also happen to be the reigning champs) secured a spot to play against Baylor University for the title by defeating the University of Connecticut on Friday night (April 5).
Their head coach, Muffet McGraw, is no stranger to the big stage, and at a press conference ahead of Friday’s game, she used her platform to powerfully speak out about gender inequality, both in the world of sports and beyond. She was asked about recent comments she made to Think Progress about how she would never hire another man. Naturally, she was more than ready with a reply.
“Did you know that the Equal Rights Amendment was introduced in 1967, and it still hasn’t passed?” she said. “We need 38 states to agree that discrimination on the basis of sex is unconstitutional. We’ve had a record number of women running for office and winning. And still, we have 23 percent of the House and 25 percent of the Senate.”
“I’m getting tired of the novelty of … the first female governor of this state. The first female African-American mayor of this city,” she said. “When is it going to become the norm instead of the exception? How are these young women looking up and seeing someone that looks like them, preparing them for the future? We don’t have enough female role models. We don’t have enough visible women leaders. We don’t have enough women in power. Girls are socialized to know, when they come out, gender roles are already set. Men run the world. Men have the power. Men make the decisions. It’s always the man that is stronger one.”
It’s a problem she sees first-hand in her sport and profession, but as a head coach, she has the very real opportunity and power to do things differently. McGraw has employed an all-female coaching staff for the past seven years. “When you look at men’s basketball and 99% of the jobs go to men, why shouldn’t 100% or 99% of the jobs in women’s basketball go to women?” she said. “Maybe it’s because we only have 10% women athletic directors in Division I. People hire people who look like them. That’s the problem.”
Watch her full response below:
By the way, not only is McGraw a feminist who’s utilizing her position to empower other women, but she’s also a helluva a dancer. This clip was captured after the team’s semifinal victory, but honestly, women supporting women is always a win.