Last week the NFL announced the hiring of nine new officials for the 2015 season. The NFL hires a few new officials each year and normally the announcement is ignored by pretty much everyone but this year’s announcement drew a lot of attention because the list of new hires included Sarah Thomas who will become the first full-time female official in NFL history.
Sports is still one of the most male-dominated industries in the country with men’s sports easily dwarfing their female counterparts in terms of the money and attention involved. The gender disparity applies to coaches and officials as well as players; women’s sports feature a mix of male and female coaches and officials but female coaches and officials are virtually unheard of in men’s sports above the high school level.