Women's Final Four Officials

[Kansas Ref]

Originally Posted by bballref3966

All-female crew in the final

Dee Kantner
Lisa Jones
Beverly Roberts

*I was surprised that the crew was entirely female. Not even one male ref. Which prompted me to wonder--since I had recently been writing about "age, racial, and gender bias" in officiating--why was a male ref not on there?

I have to be very cautious about drawing conclusions because it has been pointed out to me that my analysis of "age, gender, racial bias in the officiating industry" is too "simplistic". Was the evaluative rating of the male refs too low? Was there not a male ref willing to request the game? Were these the three highest rated refs available--which just by sheer probability just happened to be all "female"?
If I were to postulate why there were no male refs in that game, then the most parsimonious explanation would simply be: "the assignor only wanted to use only female refs".

[Rob1968]

Originally Posted by Kansas Ref

*I was surprised that the crew was entirely female. Not even one male ref. Which prompted me to wonder--since I had recently been writing about "age, racial, and gender bias" in officiating--why was a male ref not on there?

I have to be very cautious about drawing conclusions because it has been pointed out to me that my analysis of "age, gender, racial bias in the officiating industry" is too "simplistic". Was the evaluative rating of the male refs too low? Was there not a male ref willing to request the game? Were these the three highest rated refs available--which just by sheer probability just happened to be all "female"?
If I were to postulate why there were no male refs in that game, then the most parsimonious explanation would simply be: "the assignor only wanted to use only female refs".

The pool of officials for the later portions of the tournament is small. One part of the criteria for those assignments is performance in post season and tournament games.
"...a male ref requesting the game..." doesn't happen. (Perhaps blue font would've been appropriate with your statement?)
The goal, on the Women's side, has always been to eventually fill Women's game assignments with women officials.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Kansas Ref

*I was surprised that the crew was entirely female. Not even one male ref. Which prompted me to wonder--since I had recently been writing about "age, racial, and gender bias" in officiating--why was a male ref not on there?

I have to be very cautious about drawing conclusions because it has been pointed out to me that my analysis of "age, gender, racial bias in the officiating industry" is too "simplistic". Was the evaluative rating of the male refs too low? Was there not a male ref willing to request the game? Were these the three highest rated refs available--which just by sheer probability just happened to be all "female"?
If I were to postulate why there were no male refs in that game, then the most parsimonious explanation would simply be: "the assignor only wanted to use only female refs".

I have no problem with it. Other than the coaches who have to win to get to that level, why not the crew represent the players on the floor?

Peace

[Rich]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I have no problem with it. Other than the coaches who have to win to get to that level, why not the crew represent the players on the floor?

Peace

Until they hire 19-22 year olds to officiate, this will never happen.

Oh, wait, I know what you mean...

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I have no problem with it. Other than the coaches who have to win to get to that level, why not the crew represent the players on the floor?

Peace

Originally Posted by Rich

Until they hire 19-22 year olds to officiate, this will never happen.

Oh, wait, I know what you mean...

That should happen the same day the players on the floor represent the communities which the teams represent. :/

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

That should happen the same day the players on the floor represent the communities which the teams represent. :/

Well I believe that officials should look more like a cross section of everyone rather than just 3 of the same type of person on every game. I work in a rather urban area often and there is an effort to hire officials for games that look like the participants on some level.

Peace

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

...there is an effort to hire officials for games that look like the participants on some level.

Several yeas ago I was selected to officiate a game involving the visiting Irish National Junior Team. I was told that both my partner, and I, were selected because we were both Irish American (our assignment commissioner at the time was also Irish American). It seemed "right" at the time, but now I wonder if that's the "American" way? Should race, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, etc., be used in the assignment of games?

[Matt S.]

...is when I've worked games between a pair of Catholic schools. I once had a coach tell me that "I must be a St. so-and-so" guy. After I told him I was Jewish, he didn't say a word the rest of the game.

[Kansas Ref]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Several yeas ago I was selected to officiate a game involving the visiting Irish National Junior Team. I was told that both my partner, and I, were selected because we were both Irish American (our assignment commissioner at the time was also Irish American). It seemed "right" at the time, but now I wonder if that's the "American" way? Should race, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, etc., be used in the assignment of games?

*Interesting: you were selected to work the game based on your "declared ethnicity". In that instance we can only blame the assignor for promulgating "ethnic bias"; however, I believe what the subtext of your post is: "should you have accepted the games knowing that your were a prejudicial choice"? Or should you feel fortunate because your ethnic background just happened to match what they assignor was looking for? This complex and I will have to think more on it. But thanks for sharing Billymacs.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Several yeas ago I was selected to officiate a game involving the visiting Irish National Junior Team. I was told that both my partner, and I, were selected because we were both Irish American (our assignment commissioner at the time was also Irish American). It seemed "right" at the time, but now I wonder if that's the "American" way? Should race, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, etc., be used in the assignment of games?

So three white guys working a game with one team all white and the other team all of a completely different race sound fair to you? Well that is the American way, because that happens all the time. And when something happens, guess what is sometimes the accusation? Why would you not hire people in officiating like the participants ever? We are not talking about major college here where everything is on video and multiple angles and scrutiny are a common place. This is often youth or high school sports where people take all kinds of bias into their positions (and I am not talking about the officials BTW).

I had a coach once ask me when he had 3 African-Americans working his game when he was at a suburban school that happened to be entirely African-American and he was playing a school from the city that was entire African-American. He asked me and my partner, "Why can I not get 3 Black officials when I am playing (Fill in a team from his conference that was clearly not like his community)?" I told him, "I really cannot answer that, we do not assign anything."

The bottom line is the American way is often having officials on games that look nothing like the actual players or top teams in sight. If that is the case, there is something very wrong. There needs to be diversity when there are diversity in the participants. Just like a business does not put a staff of people that work in a place that look nothing like or talk nothing like the people they want to gain their business. Do they put non-Spanish speaking people in communities where the entire community speaks Spanish? Nope, not unless they want someone else to get their business. Why do we accept that in what we are doing?

Peace

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

Well I believe that officials should look more like a cross section of everyone rather than just 3 of the same type of person on every game. I work in a rather urban area often and there is an effort to hire officials for games that look like the participants on some level.

Peace

I believe they call that (hiring based on race) illegal discrimination.

[SC Official]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

I believe they call that (hiring based on race) illegal discrimination.

Does not apply to independent contractors.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

I believe they call that (hiring based on race) illegal discrimination.

Not sure that applies in a business where they hire based on multiple factors.

Walgreens or Walmart might hire you for a job and still put you in a location where you look like or represent the company. That is not discrimination, that is putting people where they will succeed or help grow the company.

And as said, we are independent contractors, people all the time reject the terms of the contract.

I also doubt it would be even close to discrimination when the majority of the representation of the staff looks nothing like the participants and the people doing the assigning are using a small percentage of their staff to give them certain assignments.

Peace

[RefCT]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

I believe they call that (hiring based on race) illegal discrimination.

Does not apply to protected classes either. Meaning it is not illegal to hire a protected class over an unprotected class, especially to meet your Affirmative Action plan...assuming the two candidates are of equal ability and meet the job description.

Not saying it's right or wrong and not trying to make it political. Just pointing out it is not illegal to hire based on race in some instances.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Kansas Ref

*I was surprised that the crew was entirely female. Not even one male ref. Which prompted me to wonder--since I had recently been writing about "age, racial, and gender bias" in officiating--why was a male ref not on there?

I have to be very cautious about drawing conclusions because it has been pointed out to me that my analysis of "age, gender, racial bias in the officiating industry" is too "simplistic". Was the evaluative rating of the male refs too low? Was there not a male ref willing to request the game? Were these the three highest rated refs available--which just by sheer probability just happened to be all "female"?
If I were to postulate why there were no male refs in that game, then the most parsimonious explanation would simply be: "the assignor only wanted to use only female refs".

In the last 6 years there have been 54 on-court Final Four officials. 16 have been male.

2 males have worked the final in the last 6 years out of 18 assignments.

If you're going to work women's college as a male, this is a reality you sign up for.