How Many Female Refs Are In The NFL?

There are a total of 122 NFL officials. 21 of those officials are women, which means that female refs make up 17.2% of the NFL officiating crew.

The current state of female referees in the NFL

According to the Washington Post, as of 2019, there are only 8 female referees in the NFL.

How many female referees are in the NFL?

At present, there are no full-time female referees in the NFL. In the past, there have been a few women who have officiated NFL preseason games, but they have not been hired to work regular season games. There are also no female assistant referees or line judges in the NFL.

The most prominent woman in NFL officiating is Sarah Thomas, who became the league’s first full-time game official in 2015. Thomas is a line judge and has worked several high-profile games, including the 2018 NFC Championship game between the Minnesota Vikings and Philadelphia Eagles.

There has been some progress made towards increasing female representation among NFL officials in recent years. In 2017, Maia Chaka became the first woman to officiate an NFL preseason game as an assistant referee. In 2019, Becky Vinton became the first woman to work as a replay official during an NFL game.

Despite these steps forward, there is still a long way to go before women are fully represented among officials at all levels of the sport.

What are the qualifications to be an NFL referee?

In order to become an NFL referee, one must first become a certified official. There are many different ways to do this, but the most common is through USA Football.USA Football is the sport’s national governing body in the United States, and they offer training programs for prospective officials.

After successfully completing a USA Football training program, officials must then pass an extensive rules test. Once they have passed the test, they can apply to become a member of an officiating crew at the youth, high school, or college level.

From there, officials can move up to lower-level professional leagues, such as the American Athletic Conference (AAC), before eventually reaching the NFL. The process can take many years, and there is no guarantee that officials will ever reach the highest level of their profession.

As of 2019, there are only 21 female officials in the NFL out of a total of 124 refs; this number has not increased since 2017. In order to increase diversity among NFL referees, the league has stepped up its recruitment efforts in recent years. They have begun working with female officiating groups like “Women Officiating Now” and hosting events specifically for women who want to become NFL officials.

The NFL has also made a commitment to hiring more minorities and women as referees, umpires, and down judges. While progress has been slow, it is hoped that these efforts will eventually lead to a more diverse and inclusive officiating staff in the NFL.

The history of female referees in the NFL

The National Football League has had female officials for over twenty years. Sarah Thomas became the first full-time female official in 2015, and in 2019, the NFL hired its first all-female officiating crew. There are currently six women officials in the NFL. Let’s take a look at the history of female referees in the NFL.

When did the first female referee officiate an NFL game?

The first female referee in the NFL was Sarah Thomas, who officiated her first game in 2015. Thomas had been a college football referee for over a decade before she was hired by the NFL. Since then, several other women have officiated NFL games, including Maia Chaka, Shannon Eastin, and Alex Kemp.

While women have been officiating NFL games for several years now, they are still vastly outnumbered by their male counterparts. In 2020, there were only fourteen female officials out of a total of one hundred and thirty-one officials employed by the NFL. This represents just over ten percent of all officials, and is a relatively small number considering that women make up approximately half of the NFL’s fan base.

The low number of female referees is likely due to the fact that there is still a bit of a boys’ club mentality in the NFL. The league has only recently begun to take steps to increase diversity among its officials, and there is still a lot of work to be done in this area. Hopefully, in the coming years, we will see more women officiating NFL games, and ultimately achieving equality with their male counterparts.

Who was the first full-time female referee in the NFL?

Sarah Thomas made history in 2015 when she became the first woman to be hired as a full-time NFL referee. She had previously worked as a referee in Conference USA and the Big Ten Conference.

In 2019, Thomas was joined by two other women officials, Alex Kemp and Maia Chaka, making it the first time in NFL history that three women were working as full-time referees.

The hire of these three women referees is part of the NFL’s goal to increase diversity and inclusion among its officiating staff.

The future of female referees in the NFL

It’s been nearly a century since women were first allowed to referee men’s football games, and though their numbers have increased incrementally over the years, they are still vastly outnumbered by their male counterparts. But that may be changing. A recent report found that the number of women officiating NFL games has nearly doubled in the last five years.

Will there be more female referees in the NFL?

It’s been nearly two years since Sarah Thomas became the first full-time female referee in the NFL, and she’s now joined by two other women, Maia Chaka and Dale Shaw. But while the NFL has made strides in recent years when it comes to diversity—there are now six full-time black referees, and 13% of on-field officials are people of color—the number of women in officiating has stayed static. In the past year, the league has lost one female official, Shannon Eastin, who worked as a replacement ref during the 2012 lockout.

So what’s the holdup? According to Jane McManus of ESPNW, it’s a lack of female role models:

There aren’t enough women becoming officials at lower levels to create a “feeder system,” so the talent isn’t there when it comes time for NFL promotion season… Shannon Eastin was a replacement official during the 2012 lockout, working 16 regular season games. But since then, no woman has been hired by the NFL as a full-time official.

The solution seems clear enough: hire more female officials at lower levels so that there’s a larger pool to choose from when it comes time for promotions. But that hasn’t happened yet. In fact, according to McManus, the number of women officiating in college football has actually declined in recent years.

There are a number of reasons why women might be hesitant to enter into officiating—the pay is low, and they’re often not welcomed into what can be a very male-dominated environment. But if the NFL is serious about increasing diversity among its officials, it needs to make an effort to recruit and retain more female officials at all levels.

What can be done to encourage more women to become referees?

There are many possible ways to encourage more women to become referees, including:

-Making the profession more visible: One way to increase the number of female referees is to make the profession more visible. This can be done by featuring women referees in media coverage of games, or by having open days and training sessions specifically for women.

-Supporting aspiring female referees: Another way to encourage more women to become referees is to support those who are already interested in the profession. This might include providing mentorship opportunities, or offering financial assistance with training and certification.

-Reducing barriers to entry: Finally, it is important to reduce any barriers that might prevent women from becoming referees. This could involve making the pay structure more equitable, or increasing the flexibility around hours and working conditions.