For those hoping the WNBA would be able to end the week by giving us their official definition of a “woman,” I’ve got some bad news for you.
This cliffhanger is gonna keep you sweating through the weekend!
That’s right. Another day of silence out of the WNBA as the league struggles on what is apparently the hardest question in the history of time …
What is a woman?
The league formed a task force late last week to tackle this problem, and, after days of deliberation, they still haven’t come to a conclusion. Shocking.
Of course, they did use that time to blame fans and the media for sewing division within the sport, calling out “bad-faith” efforts and accusing us of using players as political pawns.
That’s a tad hypocritical coming from a league that shoved BLM down our throats for an entire summer, if you ask me. But what do I know?
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Anyway, speaking of things that happened a long time ago that we’re apparently now ignoring, let’s check in with WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, who has been radio silent for weeks now on the ongoing culture war.
Engelbert was introduced as the league’s commissioner in 2019, and certainly seemed to know all about women — and the importance of “women’s advancement” — during an introductory press conference that came back to light this week:
“It’s such an exciting and important time in its history, and more importantly, a moment in time for women’s leadership,” she said at the time. “There’s no place like sports where women and girls can gather confidence and be exceptional in life, and that’s the benefit I had from playing sports at an early age. I see tremendous opportunity to essentially bolster visibility for the sport, women’s basketball, around the player experience, the fan experience, fan engagement.
“For those that don’t know me, this role brings together kind of a perfect combination of my more than 30 years of business experience and my passion for the sport of basketball, and then really I’ve dedicated at least the last decade to women’s advancement.”
Yes, I did some digging on this middle Friday of August, and stumbled upon Engelbert’s first presser as WNBA commish.
And boy, is it a humdinger given the current ‘trans in women’s sports’ debate that has engulfed the league this summer.
Engelbert mentioned the word “woman” 33 times during her press conference, and harped on the phrases, “women’s advancement,” “women’s leadership,” and “women’s initiatives” throughout the availability.
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She spent a large portion of her presser talking about her upbringing, which included a family of five brothers and a father, all who played basketball.
“I think I do tell a story a lot about being a woman leader in a man’s world,” she said when asked about breaking glass ceilings in a male-dominated industry.
“Obviously, it started even from my family with the five brothers. I went to a college that was more male than female when I first arrived there…joined a profession that was very male dominated and kind of worked very hard on our women’s advancement and women’s initiatives.”
I don’t know about you, but this certainly doesn’t sound like someone who would want a biological male in her league. I’m just spit-balling here.
Engelbert — who has recently locked her X account — also spent a large portion of that presser discussing her previous job at Deloitte, where she was the first female CEO in history to lead a Big Four accounting firm.
She was proud of that fact, and rightfully so.
“Yeah, I’ll tell you, there were three things that I was thinking of after obviously a long career with one firm,” she said. “Very safe to say I wanted something different, something with a women’s leadership platform and something I have a passion for.
“Really just having experience with the WNBA as a fan and kind of evaluating the upside and the moment in women’s leadership that I’ve been so passionate about. For instance, I am on the chair board of Catalyst, which is an organization around women’s leadership that works for women, works for everyone as their mission.
“I really thought this was a good fit, particularly with the W looking for a woman business leader with a passion for the game, and so the timing worked and it was a good fit, and I was very intrigued by the upside of how great these world class women athletes are who are playing a game that I love.”
There’s that word again! For someone who refused to come out this week and define what a woman is, Cathy Engelbert sure had no issue using the word back in 2019.
She had no problem talking about her upbringing, as a woman. Her struggles, as a woman. Her business endeavors, as a woman. Or highlighting the fact that she was the chair of a company that was literally built “around women’s leadership.”
So, what changed? How does one go from that, to this:
“I know many of you have received questions in recent weeks regarding transgender athlete participation in women’s basketball, and I expect this topic will continue to receive significant attention,” Engelbert wrote in a memo last week. “We recognize that this is a complex and nuanced topic, and we will continue to have important conversations with all of you and the Players Association in the weeks and months ahead.”
That doesn’t sound like the same commissioner from 2019.
It sounds like a lot of word salad from someone who built her entire career on being a woman.
And, frankly, it sounds like someone who is probably on her way out.
