History Made: Super Bowl Post Game Analysis

Let’s talk football.

My Facebook feed is flooded with chatter about Jennifer Lopez’s amazing body during the halftime show. Memes about her age and desire for wives to look like JLo when they are 50 are catching on like wildfire.

What do I wish my feed was flooded with? News about Katie Sowers. The first female football coach to make it to the Super Bowl as the assistant offensive coach of the San Francisco 49ers.

There have only been a handful of female coaches in the NFL. NFL teams just started hiring females as recently as 2015 when the Arizona Cardinals named Jen Walter as an assistant coaching intern.

In 5 short years, a woman has made it to the Super Bowl. What an amazing accomplishment!

I want to shift the conversation. Rather than, “wow, I want my wife to look like that” let’s hear “wow, I want my wife to be a badass accomplished leader in her career too!”

I did not hear the announcers mention Katie Sowers. How many other coaches did they reference during the game? With history being made, a mention would have been appropriate.

*If any of my readers heard her mentioned, please correct me in the comments on this article. I’m sure I wasn’t thoroughly listening to every second of the game. Microsoft Surface commercial excluded.

What is more upsetting, is Ann Coulter’s tweet, “Maybe 49ers should reconsider that FIRST FEMALE COACH.” I realize Ann Coulter is just being controversial to stay relevant. But the consequences are detrimental to women. Middle America IS reading her content.  

I will never understand how women can work so hard against their own gender. Much more to come on this topic in future weeks on my blog, so I’ll table this for now.

We have history being made with the first duo Latina performance during the halftime show, which is great! How about some noise about the female LEADING one of the teams through the regular season, through the playoffs, through the NFC championship, and on to the most prestigious game of the franchise??

As a society, we are ok with women in the spotlight as long as they are providing some form of entertainment. We are ok with women as leaders if they stay in their lane and run a beauty or female focused company.

All of which are truly commendable and a step in the right direction.

However as a society, we are still not ok with women leading men in a male-dominated industry. This is across the board – in football and in business.

I want little girls to grow up knowing they don’t just have to go into entertainment, beauty, or fashion. They can be coaches of men’s football teams. They can be CEOs of any business. They can have a choice.

Ladies – start talking about it. Break the norm like Katie Sowers. Lead unapologetically. One day, we will be recognized and accepted in all leadership positions.