More Women Move into Prominent Roles with the NFL
Originally published by Tom Withers for AP News
Catherine Raîche can remember hearing the doubt and disbelief over the phone when she said she was a college scout for the NFL.
In her first role with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2019, Raîche would regularly reach out to schools across the country to inquire about prospective players. More than once, her requests were met with suspicion.
“I was asked to send a picture of my business card because they didn’t believe I was a scout,” said Raîche, currently Cleveland Browns assistant general manager and vice president of football operations. “That happened multiple times, and it’s not like it was 10 years ago.”
Those awkward conversations and questions come far less frequently these days.
Now the highest-ranking female executive in league history, Raîche is one of the vanguard of women helping bring overdue balance to hiring in the NFL and opening doors in a world once ruled exclusively by men. After years of slow, sometimes sideways steps toward progress, record numbers of women are reshaping America’s most popular sport.
But despite the dramatic improvements in less than a decade, the NFL has more work to do as women still lag in equal representation and the league faces allegations ranging from gender discrimination to toxic workplace cultures.