WNBA posts A grades in racial and gender hiring in diversity report card

Adrien Bouchet, director of The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, said the WNBA “continues to be a leader with their inclusive racial and gender hiring practices across all professional leagues.”

ORLANDO, Florida (AP) — The WNBA continues to post top-tier grades in an annual report studying diversity hiring throughout the league, though there was a dip when it came to the racial score for head-coach hiring.

The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida issued an A for the league’s overall, racial and gender grades for the 2023 season. Wednesday’s report card marked the 19th straight year that the league earned at least an A in all three categories.

In the study, TIDES director and lead report author Adrien Bouchet said the WNBA “continues to be a leader with their inclusive racial and gender hiring practices across all professional leagues.”

The league earned A+ grades in multiple areas, including gender hiring for head coaches going from women holding 58.3% of those jobs in the 2022 study to 75% for 2023. The racial hiring grade was an A- with people of color filling 33.3% of roles, down from an A+ last year at 50%.

The league also posted an A in racial hiring and an A+ in gender hiring for roles in the WNBA headquarters, along with an A+ for diversity-hiring initiatives.

The lowest grade in the report was a C- for racial hiring with team presidents and general managers, both at 16.7%.

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