The National Football League continues to make strides in including women in its workforce.
We saw this with the hiring of the first full-time female official last season. We also saw this when the NFL named Sam Rapoport director of football development earlier this month.
A new study released Wednesday by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport gives us a better understanding of the strides the NFL has made in creating an environment of inclusion.
According to its annual report, TIDES increased the NFL’s gender hiring practices by one percentage point to 76 percent. That’s an increase of six percent from two years ago and yields the NFL a C+ letter grade (via ESPN).
“While there still is a long way to go at the team level, the gender grade over the last two years with an increase of 6 percentage points and half a letter grade overall is noteworthy,” Dr. Richard Lapchick, the author of the study, said in a statement on Wednesday. “The number of women in significant decision-making positions in the league office continued to expand.”
According to ESPN, there are 35 women who currently serve at or above the vice president level in the league office.
In terms of the team-specific dynamic, Dawn Aponte of the Miami Dolphins is the only woman to hold a front office position at the vice president level.