ORLANDO, Florida — 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 per cent of those jobs in the 2022 study to 75 per cent for 2023. The racial hiring grade was an A- with people of color filling 33.3 per cent of roles, down from an A+ last year at 50 per cent.
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 per cent.
