Women will now be getting more opportunities when it comes to getting jobs in the NFL. League commissioner Roger Goodell announced on Thursday that the NFL will institute a Rooney rule for women when it comes to executive positions.
Goodell made the announcement at the NFL’s first Women’s Summit, which is part of Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara. The Rooney Rule is named after Pittsburgh Steelers owner and chairman Dan Rooney. The NFL’s Rooney Rule requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate for each open coaching position. The rule only applies to coaching positions for now. Thirty percent of the employees in the NFL’s front office are women, ESPN reports.
"We believe in diversity," Goodell said, according to NFL.com. "We believe we're better as an organization when we have good people at the table. We have great people at the table ... We're also seeing it on the field. Sarah Thomas, Sarah's right here. Sarah was our first NFL female official on the field this year. Sarah, congratulations. And she did a fantastic job, and we're very proud of her. We also have people breaking into coaching ranks. I don't know if Jen is here, is Jen here? Jen's right next to her. Jen (Welter) is the first coach last year in the NFL. And she set a trend, we now have a second coach of the Buffalo Bills, a female coach (Kathryn Smith)."
Goodell went on to say that the league has made progress and is committed to keep making progress and making a difference.
Women really started to break barriers in the NFL within the last year. Last summer, Jen Welter coached the Arizona Cardinals inside linebackers during training camp and Sarah Thomas became the NFL’s first female official this past season. In January, Kathryn Smith became the NFL’s first full-time female coach when the Buffalo Bills hired her as a special teams assistant coach. And Dawn Aponte is currently the executive vice president of football administration for the Miami Dolphins.
It is unknown when the Rooney Rule for women will take effect. No woman has ever held a position as high as a general manager in the NFL.
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