Muffet McGraw, the Notre Dame women's basketball coach whose comments on gender inequality made headlines earlier this month, says not having enough women in power "has a huge effect on our daughters."
"When we look at the next generation of women, who are they looking up to to say, 'This is what I want to be?' when you have less than 5 percent of the CEOs in Fortune 500 companies are women. If you look in the Senate, in the House, we're just so far behind," McGraw said Wednesday on "CBS This Morning."
"If girls aren't growing up … seeing [movies] that are directed by women, about women, with leading women, getting paid the same as men, they come out and what do they learn? They learn that men are going to be the lead, and men are going to be in charge," she added.

McGraw led the Notre Dame women's basketball team to NCAA Final Four this season for the ninth time. The Fighting Irish ultimately lost to Baylor by just one point. But McGraw, a basketball Hall of Famer, has a 77.7 percent winning record in her 32 years at Notre Dame. 
During her news conference at the Final Four, McGraw made an impassioned plea: "Men run the world. Men have the power. Men make the decisions. It's always the men that is the stronger one. And when these girls are coming out, who are they looking up to to tell them that that's not the way it has to be? And where better to do that than in sports?"


To begin addressing the inequity, McGraw said "first it starts with hiring women."
"I think people hire people who look like them, and you have a lot of white men in athletics, especially as the athletic director. And they're going to hire a lot of men because they're comfortable with that. They're going to look at guys on the men's side and say, 'Hey, why don't you come over and coach on the women's side?' We never do the reverse, and I think it's just so important. And the way women go for jobs – we need to be more aggressive," McGraw said.
While McGraw said she does hire men, she's had an all-female staff for the past eight years or so.
"I think it's important for the women that we're coaching to look up to that staff and see that. And it's just been – we've been so successful, we have great chemistry, I think it's just a great situation," McGraw said. "I wish when my former players come out looking for jobs, I wish more women were able to get those jobs. But they're just not out there."
McGraw was also asked about her city's mayor, Pete Buttigieg, who announced his 2020 campaign for the Democratic nomination on Sunday.  
"I think he's awesome," McGraw said, adding she was at the South Bend rally. "He's somebody that is a great voice, and he's got a different perspective than we've had. He's young, he knows this generation, and I think he's the future." 

Mims Davies, the Minister for Sport, has pledged to make increased participation among young girls and women, and a transformation in the visibility of elite sportswomen, cornerstones of a new Government drive for sport.
In her first national newspaper interview since succeeding Tracey Crouch, Davies outlined how a cross-departmental school sport action plan this spring would target worryingly low activity trends among children, especially young girls. She also praised The Daily ­Telegraph’s “brilliant, leading” revolution in its coverage of women’s sport.
Sport England’s Active Lives survey found last December that only 17.5 per cent of children aged between five and 16 are meeting the Chief Medical Officer’s guidelines of more than 60 minutes of activity every day. Girls were found to be significantly less active; a finding consistent with similar research by the Youth Sports Trust, which reported in 2017 that fewer than 10 per cent of females aged up to 18 were meeting the recommendation.
Davies described the findings each a “wake-up call for the sector” and, as part of tackling this “huge challenge”, has called for physical literacy to be given the same status at school as maths or English. 

“We are really concerned about the inactivity of our youngsters,” said Davies. “If you don’t get a sporting habit for life when you come through school, it is more difficult to come back.
“We want a balance of sports and activity, physical literacture and well-being. As a minimum schools must ensure children are physically literate. It is just as important that parents encourage kids to be active as it is to read them books or do times tables.
“As parents, we have to not only think about their safety and opportunity, but their activities. Are they doing enough? Are they getting outside in the fresh air? Go out. Get muddy. Be adventurous. Children need to learn how to run, jump, throw, catch. Those basics will allow them to thrive in broader ways.
“If we don’t sort out participation – across schools, communities, ­governing bodies and making this a Government priority – we end up picking up the pieces in the Health Service anyway.”
Davies also cited a recent question-and-answer session with children in Hampshire. “One young girl put her hand up and told me that she wasn’t allowed to play rugby at school and that it wasn’t fair and equal. I think it is really important for schools to look at what availability there is.

“If there are concerns about risk, then governing bodies can help schools to understand or adapt how things are played. We have to make sure if you want to have a go, you have a fair chance.”
The detail of the school sport ­action plan is still being finalised across the Education and Health ­departments, as well as Digital, ­Culture, Media and Sport, but one specific Government target is for 500,000 people to be more regularly active by 2020, of which half are women.
“The answer has to come from across the country,” said Davies. “This is not just schools, this is ­parents, the wider community and governing bodies.” 
It is also the media. Davies joined Telegraph columnists Dina Asher-Smith, Judy Murray and Maggie ­Alphonsi at the Piccadilly Circus launch this week of Telegraph Women’s Sport. In an unprecedented publishing commitment, The Telegraph has pledged to address the under-representation of women’s sport through increased editorial coverage and will also campaign on key issues to inspire women and girls’ participation.

Davies described the initiative as “simply a massive chance to effect change” in women’s sport. “The more you see people who look like you the more you feel you can achieve it,” she said. “That’s visibility. That’s real equality. Sport for women shouldn’t be niche. Women’s sport on television remains too much of a novelty. We have some of the most amazing sporting stars on the planet. I recently met Nikita Parris. What a role model. What a star. Dina Asher-Smith, Laura Muir – so inspiring.
“There is a golden opportunity for media to hook into what is huge interest. There is a huge opportunity for sponsors and business. Not just to change and inspire our young girls and young people into more activity. This could change the whole activity of the nation.”
Davies, who became MP for ­Eastleigh in 2015 and was appointed Minister for Sport last November, said she fell in love with sport at school, where she played netball, football, rounders and was one of two girls in the cricket team. 
Her father “thought looking after us was watching sport on TV”, but that only reinforced this passion. 

“I loved the camaraderie – my best was 27 not out,” she said, laughing, before adding, “I like to think I was a pioneer.”
Davies entered politics after ­“being the woman who went to the council complaining about play ­facilities” and “got involved ­because I found people who hadn’t been to a leisure centre for 15 years making the decisions”.
Davies has two girls, aged nine and 13, who enjoyed getting active in local junior park runs and now compete in swimming and cricket.
Paula Radcliffe is a particular personal inspiration and, while Davies describes herself “as unfit as I have been for some time” and “pretty rubbish”, she will be lining up on Sunday at the Eastleigh 10 kilometre race. 
“With small children, finding the time became more ­challenging and that was where running came in,” she said. “Sunday’s race is sold out and 46 per cent of the participants are women. It is one of the fastest growing sports for women.

“You can put your trainers on and go … as long as you can find your sports bra.”
Davies has run in the London and Brighton marathons, and while her new job and Westminster’s wider political intensity have curtailed bi-weekly runs, she is determined to get back into the parks of London.
“It’s absolutely right that women feel that activity is as important a part of their life as anything else,” she said. 
“Find something you love and stick at it. Sport is a great stress reliever. You will meet friends. It helps your broader sense of well-being and that inspires other women and girls to get involved. 
“Research shows if you are more fit and healthy as a woman, you are more likely to get your smear test and have mammograms done.
“The wider challenge is great, but the opportunity is fantastic. I am not in politics to make something unachievable. We are in this to turn behaviour, change the dial and allow our children to get a sporting experience that will set them for life.”

The U.S. women's national soccer team got a helping hand in its pursuit to close the pay gap with the men's program thanks to a donation of nearly three-quarters of a million dollars from LUNA Bar.
The company publicly announced its donation Tuesday in conjunction with Equal Pay Day -- but Clif Bar & Company owners and co-CEOs Gary Erickson and Kit Crawford, and Ritu Mathur, senior director of marketing for LUNA Bar, flew to Tampa to present the gift to the team at a Players Association meeting on Feb. 19. U.S. Soccer was informed of the donation Monday night.
"Gary started speaking and we were all like, 'What's the catch?'" USWNT forward Alex Morgan told espnW last week during a media day in Los Angeles organized by LUNA Bar. "But there isn't one. They want to close the gap. They want to be on the forefront of this movement."
The idea for the donation began with a conversation between LUNA Bar representatives and Becca Roux, executive director of the USWNT Players Association. "Just before the New Year, I got an email asking how LUNA Bar could support the women in their quest for equal pay," Roux said. "After that, it all went extremely fast."
Roux and her staff identified several wage gaps between the men's and women's national team programs, including the World Cup qualifying and roster bonuses, before settling on the World Cup the roster bonuses as "a clean, clear way to show a disparity," Roux said. U.S. Soccer pays members of the women's World Cup a roster bonus that is $31,250 per player less than it pays members of the men's team. To close that gap, LUNA Bar made a $718,750 donation to the Players Association with the stipulation that the money would be used to pay each of the 23 members of the 2019 World Cup team $31,250 to make up the difference. The women are also eligible for Olympic qualifying and roster bonuses (the men's tournament is restricted to players under 23), which also narrows the bonus gap if the team qualifies and competes in the three-week quadrennial tournament.
The team, which was asked to keep the donation a secret until the public announcement, joined in a federal class-action lawsuit filed March 11 against U.S. Soccer alleging institutionalized gender discrimination and seeking equitable pay and treatment.
"They did this for the whole Players Association, which is a huge statement," USWNT midfielder Megan Rapinoe said. "It forces other brands to look in the mirror, whether they want to or not. It forces our federation and other companies to ask, 'What is our responsibility and what can we do in this fight?'"
"What's cool about this donation is that so much of the fight for equal pay is exactly that -- a fight," USWNT striker Christen Press said. "We've taken a lot of pride and put a lot of energy toward that fight, and it's something that we want to be part of our legacy. It was handed to us and we will pass it to the future generation.
​"In a moment like this, when LUNA comes from the outside and steps up, it shows that this fight is so much bigger than us. It celebrates how we can uplift each other. That's a slightly different message that goes beyond sport and this team and says, 'Let's all help each other. Let's swim in the same direction and we'll get so much further.'"

All three players said the reason they took the time to fly to Los Angeles for a day of media one week before kicking off a busy slate of friendlies was because they were uplifted by the opportunity to discuss pay disparity in a positive manner.
"We're so often in this position of fighting, so our voice gets boxed in," Rapinoe said. "It seems like every time we speak to the media, it's something negative, but it doesn't have to be that way. Contrary to what the federation thinks, we actually prefer to give shine and be positive. We don't see this as a zero-sum game."
Press, who was one of the chief architects of team's current collective bargaining agreement (ratified in April 2017), said she would also like to see the narrative around the USWNT's fight for equal pay shift to place less focus on comparing the women with the men's team. "I would like to see our team celebrated for who we are and not fight over who's been more successful and who deserves to be paid more," she said. "The idea of equal pay is to give both teams equal opportunity to be their most successful selves."

In addition to making the donation, LUNA Bar enlisted Press and former USWNT captain and ESPN broadcaster Julie Foudy to provide advice for women on negotiation tactics in the workplace, which will be available starting Tuesday on lunabar.com. "We negotiated this collective bargaining agreement and it was a huge process, but the same principles apply for any negotiation," Press said. "Every woman should feel empowered to ask for her worth and when you do, here are steps to take to put yourself in the best position. The only way to achieve equality is to hit it from all angles."
On March 9, Adidas said it would pay its sponsored athletes on the Women's World Cup-winning team the same performance bonus granted to their male counterparts. But Roux said LUNA's donation is the first of its kind that the USWNT Players Association has received. She hopes it's not the last.
"There are so many brands doing campaigns around equality. It's very trendy," Roux said. "The Nike commercial that aired during the Grammys was beautiful and tugged at your heartstrings. But this is way cooler. I would love if this starts a new trend in how brands activate around women athletes. I would love to see other brands in other countries step up for their national teams and support them in the same way. That would be a dream."

How can women’s sports become mainstream?
While it’s never been a better time to be a female athlete, and participation in sport from women of all ages is on the rise, the one key area where we’re seriously lacking in is corporate investment. The most recent estimate of global corporate investment currently stands at 0.4% for women’s sports, with the majority of the rest of that figure going to the men.
This needs to change, and to achieve this we - that includes government, the media, people in business and you, dear reader - have to be pulling in the right direction. We have to educate potential investors and tell the story of the benefits of women sport better. Here’s my topline take on how.
1. We need to identify and empower female athletes - for the right reasons
The #WhatIf campaign by Women in Football, which launched last month, is a great start when it comes to empowering women’s sports for the right reasons. In a nutshell, businesses such as Betfair, Sky Sports and Barclays have pledged to invest in boosting the profile of women, working in the football industry.
#WhatIf also highlights how we need initiatives like this across the whole gamut of women’s sports, and for reasons that go beyond mere tokenism. These businesses have invested in the Women in Football initiative based on individual achievements and performance, not just their gender.
We need to start championing more sportswomen from a host of different sports because they excel at their game - like kickboxer Ruqsana Bequm and footballers like Sydney Leroux. Female sport stars can generate loyal and avid fanbases, so if we can boost their exposure, we can create a compelling desirable option for businesses to spend sponsorship money with them based on both the quality of their performance and their ability to generate engaged fans, beyond a token gesture.
2. We need to look beyond reach to attract more corporate investment
Sponsorship plays a big part in funding grassroots engagement in sports, and without it, most sports will struggle.
That 0.4% statistic is shocking to say the least, and it highlights the disparity between the growing interest surrounding sportswomen, and the lack of investment in championing them.
The key issue is that businesses look at men’s and women’s sports in the same way. It’s about how many eyeballs - in stadia and on TV’s - they can reach with their sponsorship money. This is disingenuous - while the popularity of women’s sports is on the increase, it’s never going to match the same number of viewers as its male counterparts.
This might be a bitter pill to swallow, but it shouldn’t matter that women’s sports attract fewer viewers. The point is that backing female sports goes beyond how many people see your logo on TV; it’s much more about who’s watching and engaging with the game and how they subsequently feel about the backing a particular business gives to that sport. Brands such as SSE, Vitality and Kia, who are already engaged with women’s games, have spoken about how they’re viewed in a positive light from audiences at games, which has turned into increased brand-love and affinity.
3. We need to sell women’s sport on the basis of engagement and participation
One of the main reasons for the groundswell of interest around women’s sports lies in the fact that they’re viewed as being more inclusive. Men’s football and rugby games are a pleasure to watch. But fans can be too loud and/or rude for families, who don’t appreciate their kids learning a lexicon of swear words to tell the ref he’s made a bad decision.
That’s partly why we’re seeing more families attend female sporting events. They’re slowly becoming the natural home for family audiences, and they may even succeed in bringing on board people who wouldn’t naturally watch sport.
But not only do these games attract a different audience, and therefore, different brands backing them, female athletes have also been shown to appeal to fans in different ways. They’re seen as more likeable and appealing - for example, during this year’s Winter Olympics, a study found that Team USA’s sportswomen drove more social media engagements per athlete than the sportsmen.
So while it’s never been a better time to be a female athlete, the commercial future can be much brighter. Women’s sports deserves to be in the mainstream. But it’s only through continued investment - which we can achieve if we market female sports in the right way, by focusing on the above three points - that we’ll keep growing the female game, and continue to raise the bar.

THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (IOC) IS FORGING A BOLD NEW PATH IN ADVANCING GENDER EQUALITY IN THE SPORTING ARENA AND BEYOND, AS THE IOC SESSION RECEIVED TODAY AN UPDATE FROM THE GENDER EQUALITY REVIEW PROJECT. FOLLOWING THE IOC EXECUTIVE BOARD APPROVAL OF 25 BOLD AND CHALLENGING RECOMMENDATIONS, THE IOC IS LEADING THE WAY IN RAISING AWARENESS OF THE IMPORTANCE OF GENDER EQUALITY ON AND OFF THE FIELD OF PLAY.

From governance to human resources, to funding, sport and portrayal, the IOC is focusing on achieving tangible results to strengthen gender equality across the entire Olympic Movement through these action-oriented recommendations. The ultimate goal is to assist in removing barriers preventing women and girls from participating in sport at all levels.
Chair of the IOC Gender Equality Review Project Marisol Casado said: “While recent years have seen improvements in gender equality in sport, we need more, and we need to do it quickly. These 25 recommendations aim to make substantial change and swiftly. The IOC is in a prime position to lead the way in bringing parity in gender equality, and today’s decision is a giant step forward toward achieving our objective.”
There are 25 recommendations: 8 in areas in which the IOC has already made significant progress; 8 of which the IOC will lead with an implementation plan currently under development; and 9 of which are for International Federations (IFs) and National Olympic Committees (NOCs) to lead. The next step is to publish the full report and develop an approach to undertake gender equality assessments within the broader Olympic Movement and beyond.
The Gender Equality Working Group was led by Casado, an IOC Member and President of the International Triathlon Union. She was joined by IOC Members, NOCs, and Summer and Winter IF representatives who had been selected for the leadership of gender equality efforts within their own organisations.

"THESE 25 RECOMMENDATIONS AIM TO MAKE SUBSTANTIAL CHANGE AND SWIFTLY. THE IOC IS IN A PRIME POSITION TO LEAD THE WAY IN BRINGING PARITY IN GENDER EQUALITY." - Marisol Casado


One of the key actions is centered around avoiding portraying gender bias and stereotypes. A pilot programme is already underway at the Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, where a set of principles and guidelines for balanced portrayal of both genders has been shared with IOC stakeholders. They have been asked to “road test” these guidelines in their own activities during the Games, and to share feedback and comment on their experiences.
Using this stakeholder input, the next step will be to build a robust set of gender portrayal guidelines that can be implemented widely. Closely collaborating with stakeholders in gathering and responding to their valued feedback will lead to a strengthened sense of ownership, and to enhanced implementation of the guidelines throughout the IOC and the wider Olympic Movement.

The IOC’s strategic objective around gender equality calls for growing female participation at the Olympic Games to 50 per cent. This significant, yet achievable, increase will build upon recent advances in gender parity at the Olympic Games. For example, in London in 2012, there was a 44 per cent female participation rate. Further expanding female participation, the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 boasted the highest-ever number of women competitors, with female athletes comprising 45 per cent of total participants.
Further demonstrating progress, on the final day of the Games, equal numbers of women’s and men’s events will take place. This groundbreaking achievement represents a major stride forward, as both the 2010 Vancouver and 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games did not host any women’s events on their final days of competition.

Biggest gaps in prize money
Similar pay gaps can be observed across other professional sports. In golf, men in the US Open compete for a chance to take home almost $1.5m (£1.1m), twice as much the prize money for the female champion.
Take the case of Lydia Ko, from New Zealand, who in 2015 became the youngest player of either gender ever to be ranked number one in professional golf.
That year, she pocketed less money than the golfer in position 25th in the male ranking of the PGA Tour, estimates by Newsweek reveal.
Meanwhile, in cricket a victorious male team at the World Cup can make almost seven times more than the women's side.
And the pay gap is replicated also in the world's most prestigious male and female basketball leagues - the NBA and WNBA.
"The highest-paid player in the WNBA (the Women's National Basketball Association) makes roughly one-fifth that of the lowest-paid player," in the super-rich NBA, calculates Newsweek.

'A boys' club'
To achieve equality, experts say, it is not enough that the governing bodies of each sport establish gender-blind prizes - sponsorship and endorsements, as well as contractual conditions, have become some of the main forces perpetuating the imbalance.
In tennis, for instance, the Grand Slams - the four most important events in the global calendar- have already introduced equal pay for men and women from 2007, yet the top male players consistently earn more yearly due to better sponsorship deals.
That is why Serena Williams is alone in the Forbes' list of the 100 richest.
"The top 100 athletes are a boys' club more than ever", wrote Forbes' sports reporter Kurt Badenhausen when the list was released, in June.
"Mainstay Maria Sharapova failed to make the grade after reductions in her endorsement contracts." 
Those extras make up 29% of the total pie for the top 100 athletes, according to Forbes.
Ronaldo earned $58m (£44m) in salary and bonuses, but topped that up with some $35m (£26.5m) from sponsors, endorsements and appearance fees.
For golfer Tigers Woods and track star Usain Bolt, sponsorship account for over 90% of their earnings.
"Sexism is widespread from grassroots level to elite level in the sport industry," says Frey.
"At grassroots level it may mean that girls are not able to participate in a sport that is not traditionally considered to be for girls, creating bias at an early age which then follows them through youth and on to elite sport practice."
Then, she says, it translates into uneven opportunities in sponsorships and personal marketing, to the extent that most female athletes around the world are "unable to secure a livelihood from their athletic practice". 
And the trend persists after retirement.
"For retired sportswomen it is particularly problematic. Not only have they not ever earned very much money, they've probably got no pension, no house, no security," says Hathorn.
"And that's an issue for girls' aspirations: why would they want to become athletes if that's what the future holds?"

Understanding the gap
The roots of this discrepancy could perhaps be traced back to the origins of modern sport itself.
Different societies viewed physical training as an activity intrinsically linked to the "muscular male", defined against an idea of softer and more physically vulnerable femininity. 
The father of the modern Olympic Games, Pierre de Coubertin, described women's sport as an "unaesthetic sight" for the human eye and considered their participation would make the competition "impractical, uninteresting" and "improper" (although a few female athletes were allowed to take part after 1900).
Women were only competing in races up to 1,500 metres, because they were deemed physically unprepared to cope with the demands of longer events.
In terms of representation, it took until the 2012 London Games to have at least one female athlete in every country's delegation.
So the sport pay gap may well be linked to a wider imbalance - that of female participation in sport, perpetually lower than that of males.
"The participation is a problem that goes back to the school years: that's when it starts," says Ruth Holdaway, chief executive officer at advocacy group Women in Sport. 
It has to do with their awareness of the body, with how they are perceived and the gender stereotypes they encounter, says Holdaway.
UN Women statistics show that a striking 49% of girls drop out of sport by the time they reach puberty, and this has ramifications in professional and elite training later in life, research shows.

Turn on the TV
There is a general acceptance that the breadth of the gender pay gap is also a by-product of the increasingly commercial nature of sport, where media rights play a big part.
According to a study by the University of Minnesota's Tucker Centre for Research on Girls and Women in Sport in 2014, only up to 4% of sports media coverage went to female sports, despite the fact that 40% of all participants were female. 
And within the small amount of airtime received, the coverage of women's athletics is also more likely to be sexualised, portraying athletes off court and out of uniform, with an emphasis "on their physical attractiveness rather than their athletic competence", says Tucker Centre's director Mary Jo Kane.
Hence, many would argue that women earn less because the market dictates so, as female sports are "less popular" and "not as good to watch", and as a result they generate less media revenue. 
It is a self-perpetuating, "chicken and egg" cycle, equity advocators argue - audiences will not get excited about women's sport as it gets minimal exposure in the media, and the media would justify the lack of coverage by saying that female athletics do not generate enough audience engagement.
"That is not a fair argument, you have to invest first at many levels, including marketing and promotion, to get the general public more involved, and then the return of the investment will be better," says Frey.
"Had our culture been used to seeing women rather than men playing rugby or football for generations, we would find the idea of men playing sports rather novel," adds Hathorn. 
Sport gaps are in fact a manifestation of wider gender inequality, says the expert, that also translates into other more subtle forms of sexism.
For example, women footballers in international tournaments were required until recently to play on artificial turf, which is often regarded as of lesser quality than the natural grass on which male teams play.
And then there's the language: "the World Cup is assumed to be for men, while women require the qualifying 'Women's' to describe their event", says a UN document on women in sport. 

Good record
Despite the "glacial" pace, change is nonetheless advancing and indicates that the gap is getting narrower.
Tennis is usually celebrated as a shining example of this, after all four Grand Slam tournaments established equal prize money to the men and the women in 2007.

Sports paying equal prize money (number of sports per year)
In fact, the process started in 1973 at the US Open, thanks to world champion Billie Jean King and other female players, who founded the Women's Tennis Association to fight for gender equality.
Athletics have also become a case study for good practices, particularly over the past five years, with the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) World Championships and annual Diamond series offering gender-blind rewards.
Other sports that have reportedly been paying equivalent prizes include skating, shooting, volleyball, diving, sailing, windsurfing and taekwondo, as well as some cycling events.

MPW Insider is an online community where the biggest names in business and beyond answer timely career and leadership questions. Today’s answer for: What do you think is the most significant barrier to female leadership? is written by Beth Brooke-Marciniak, global vice chair of public policy at EY.

According to research by Michigan State University’s Institute for the Study of Youth Sports, approximately 70% of children in the U.S. are dropping out of organized sports before the age of 13. This is particularly alarming for women because studies have shown that girls who play sports are more likely to graduate from college, find a job, and be employed in male-dominated industries.

EY research shows that among senior business women in the C-suite today, 94% played sports and over half played at a university level — suggesting a strong correlation between their success in sports and their success in business. In fact, of the 400 women EY surveyed, 75% said that a candidate’s background in sports positively influenced their decision to hire them. These women put a particular premium on female athletes because they know — very personally — how participating in sports can impact work ethic. So to have young women drop out of sport at an early age is not only an alarming statistic, it is a wake-up call for parents. Their girls could prematurely be walking away from something that could have a bigger long-term effect.


These statistics have caused me to reflect on my own experience as a young athlete, and specifically the role my parents played. I was a four-sport athlete in high school. I played basketball, softball, tennis, and golf. My true passion was softball, but basketball was an intercollegiate sport. I eventually decided to pursue basketball in college at Purdue and leave the other three sports behind. But my parents never tried to make me pursue just one sport. I loved the variety. I only narrowed to one sport in college when, as a scholarship athlete, it was necessary.

My father empowered me to play. He and my mother showed up to every game. They truly cared. And I loved having them there. I can’t imagine a world where they weren’t there. But there was never an expectation. They just loved watching me play. And I loved them watching me. Often, my father and I would discuss my performance after games, but only if I wanted to. I would ask him questions, and he would answer. We discussed ways I could improve, and he would practice with me in our backyard. He knew I didn’t need to be told I had made a mistake, but rather understand how not to do it again. And he would help me with that.

There’s no doubt that it was my parents’ interest and support that encouraged me to continue playing sports throughout my childhood. Their interest was pure joy, not judgment or unfair criticism. They were all in because I was all in. When I was younger, organized sports was still novel for girls. When my friends quit playing, and dropped out to be “more like girls,” I kept going. And my parents went with me. I never wanted to stop, so I didn’t. And I know that the nonjudgmental, joyous support of my parents was a huge factor — not only in my success as an athlete, but also in my professional success today.


I’m not alone in accrediting my career success back to my experience as an athlete. Later this week, I’ll be taking part in a discussion at the NFL Women’s Summit with Claire Shipman, television journalist and co-author of The Confidence Code. Claire and I will be among women leaders from business, government, sports and a variety of other fields taking part in what promises to be an amazing exchange of ideas.
In Claire’s words:
“Something happens when girls play sports — they embody the experience of not just of winning, but the critical experience of losing. It’s that process of carrying on and clearing hurdles that really builds confidence. It’s an incredibly useful proving ground for business and leadership.”
That “something” happened to me when I played the sports I chose. And it was the constant support I received from my parents that made possible the success I’ve experienced. Our EY research is further proof that there is a strong connection between sports and women’s leadership at the highest levels. So I encourage all parents to think hard about encouraging your daughters to stick with sports — your decision could affect the rest of their lives.

Editor's Note: Kathy Carter has played soccer since childhood, including for the College of William and Mary. She was a founding member of Major League Soccer in 1996 and served as vice president of corporate marketing for MLS for six years. She has also been the US representative on FIFA's Committee for Women's Football and the FIFA Women's World Cup. Carter was most recently the president of Soccer United Marketing, where she managed the business operations for MLS' commercial subsidiary. The views expressed here are solely the author's.
(CNN)-Since the first day I walked onto the soccer field, when I was 7 years old, I have been questioned and doubted.
I was asked: Do you have what it takes to play this sport? Are you tall enough to be a goalkeeper? Are you quick enough? Is your skin thick enough for you to take a loss and bounce back stronger?
At every stage, I heard questions -- some spoken aloud, some whispered -- about me, my talent, my body, my character. This line of questioning starts at a young age for girls. Unfortunately, it doesn't end when we leave the soccer field, or as we become adults. Just the opposite, in fact. For women, it becomes our norm as we enter the workplace. Soccer gave me the confidence to work through the added pressure, prove the doubters wrong, and resolve to clear a smoother path for future generations of women.

I was fortunate to have played for supportive coaches and with tremendous teammates. Not every young woman is so lucky. My dad was one of my first coaches; he did this job with a "how to" book in his hands and baseball cleats on his feet. In high school, I was named an All-American, and I went on to start for a nationally ranked team at the College of William and Mary.
When I was finishing my final college season in 1990, there was no professional pathway for female players in the United States. No pro leagues to join, no National Women's Soccer League to aspire to, and no post-collegiate female players to look up to. So I continued to play in amateur adult leagues. My career as a soccer player came to an end not because I wanted it to, but because there was no option for women to make a career out of playing the best sport in the world here at home.

I didn't always know my future was in soccer, but what I did know was that I loved the game. Then, good fortune struck when a friend from an opposing team introduced me to members of the 1994 World Cup Organizing Committee and I was given a shot to make the game my profession. I've never looked back.
I'm very proud of my playing career and my career as an executive in the game. But I have news for anyone reading this: The doubting questions have never stopped. As I made the transition from player to executive, the questions just changed.

Would men take a woman as president of US Soccer seriously? Would people listen to her? Could she lead such a large and high-stakes organization?
I've answered these questions in business and plan to do so in a new role: I am now running for another leadership position in soccer, that of president of the US Soccer Federation. Before I began this effort, my journey was, like most people's, outside the glaring lights. Now that I'm in the race, even though I bring both soccer and relevant business experience to the table, questions abound.

Does she have enough soccer experience? Is her business experience the right kind? Is she her own person? Has she done enough as a woman in the game?
In the international soccer community, out of FIFA's 211 member associations, there are only a few female leaders. In the United States, there are several women serving as leaders of their respective sports, but it is not nearly enough.

Kids dream of representing our country on the global stage as players, coaches, referees, executives or administrators. I want to show them, especially young girls, that any of these options are within their grasp.
If elected, I'll be the first female president of US Soccer, but I'll fight for all the things any good leader wants, confronting challenges, such as rebounding from the failure of our men's national team to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and remedying our confusing youth soccer landscape. I'm optimistic about the future because the American soccer community is talented, committed and ready to deeply assess what's wrong and work together -- plus our women's national team is heading to France in 2019 to defend our world championship. It is a time of change and we must focus on unity and collaboration to drive progress.

This work starts with changing the federation's culture, prioritizing improvements in youth soccer, growing the adult game, building a new technical department to support all our national teams, and going all-in on the women's game.

I know the doubts I've faced throughout my career are faced by many women -- most women. I know because a lot of them tell me. Like them, I have responded the only way I know how: I've worked harder to be more prepared, to see every angle, to avoid every error possible. I've learned through successes and yes, sometimes through failures, the importance of listening, working constructively, setting ambitious goals, and helping everyone succeed together.

Inside me is still the 5-foot-5 goalkeeper about whom no one ever said at first glance, "Wow, she's going to be great." I had to earn everything I got and I am extremely proud of that.

I'm also proud of the female teammates I've had in business, another lesson from the game. Throughout my career, I've mentored, supported and counseled hundreds of young women building their own careers in sports. Today, these women are part of a growing network of successful women who are rising through the ranks of professional sports leagues, front offices, sports apparel companies, TV networks and sports marketing agencies. And, I have benefited from their wisdom, support, hard work and professionalism.

Among the things that excite me most about the possibility of leading US Soccer is the opportunity to address diversity and equality head on. I want treatment of our girls and women to be equal across the sport and from top to bottom -- from pay to training staff to field conditions and beyond.
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I want to take all that I've learned from my own experiences and from these female teammates and use it to invest in helping all our national teams continue to inspire the country and the world. I want generations of young girls and boys to have soccer -- and the lessons from soccer -- running through their veins.