Women broadcasters deserve more than one day in the booth

International Women’s Day is March 8, which means you’re about to see brands that want you to think they’re Huge Women Respecters do a lot of performative and disingenuous things. Creating a workplace culture that grants people of all genders equal opportunity is difficult, but acting like a good ally for one day? Hell, anyone can do that.

One entity getting in on the performance is NBC Sports, which is turning its hockey coverage over to five women for an NHL game between the Blues and the Blackhawks.

This will be an undoubtedly cool moment for the five broadcasters involved, and probably for a lot of women hockey fans. I’m planning on watching. Hopefully the broadcast will post good ratings and be well-received by viewers, potentially leading to more opportunities for female sports broadcasters down the road.

But there’s a problem.

NBC Sports has determined Kate Scott, AJ Mleczko, Kendall Coyne Schofield, Kathryn Tappen and Jennifer Botterill possess the requisite speaking skills and NHL knowledge to handle one of its NHL broadcasts. If that’s the case, why doesn’t NBC just hire them and assign them to as many games as any of the men on its staff? The NHL on NBC talent team currently consists of 13 full-time contributors, with Tappen being the only woman among the group. For part-time fill-ins, the network has these four women, plus a couple dozen men.

On March 8, several other broadcasters, sports teams and leagues will also run promotions in which they tout how much they value and respect women. Then, on March 9, they’ll go right back to their apathetic attitudes towards creating opportunities for women to break in and advance in their organizations.

If NBC, or any broadcaster, is serious about giving opportunities to women, they should try diversifying their coverage teams year-round.