Twenty-one years ago， the NBA broke the gender barrier when it hired Violet Palmer and Dee Kantner， becoming the first major U.S. professional men’s league to hire women as fulltime officials. But what was once seen as a sign of progress has not ushered in the cultural shift many expected. Today the NBA can count just one woman among its officiating ranks， and she is the only one to be hired full-time since the league hired the first two.
　　21年前，聘用了維奥雷特·帕尔默和迪·肯特纳的NBA打破了性别障碍，成为北美第一个聘用女性担任全职裁判的主流体育联盟。可这一具有先驱意义的事件并没有如众人所愿地带来文化上的改变。如今，NBA的众多裁判中只有一名女性，她也是联盟自首次聘用两名女性裁判之后聘用的唯一女性。
　　In fairness， the NBA isn’t the only league with a paucity of female referees. "There’s not a history of females officiating on the men’s side； that has to be built，" said Barry Mano， founder and president of the National Association of Sports Officials （NASO） and founder of Referee magazine. Major League Baseball has never had a female umpire； nor has the National Hockey League； the National Football League hired its first female referee in 2015. By these metrics， it would seem the NBA is ahead of the game. But it hasn’t stayed in front， and it’s not clear when it will regain the momentum.
　　公平地说，NBA并不是唯一女性裁判稀缺的联赛。“不存在女性吹罚男子比赛的历史，这是需要构建的文化。”体育裁判国家协会（NASO）的创始人兼总裁，《裁判》杂志创始人巴里·马诺表示。MLB从未有过女性裁判，NHL也没有，NFL直到2015年才第一次聘用女裁判。按照这些标准，NBA无疑处于领先地位。但NBA并没有保持领先地位，我们也不知道他们何时才会重启势头。
　　Officiating is a dying industry， no matter the sport. Officials cite poor treatment from athletes and fans and low pay as two of the main reasons for exiting the job， according to Mano. NASO’s 2017 National Officiating Survey of 17，487 referees at all levels around the country found that， in 1970， the average age when officials entered the field was 19 or 20. Today， it’s 42.
　　不论哪项运动，裁判都是一个走向死亡的职业。按照马诺的说法，运动员和球迷的恶劣态度以及低收入，是人们放弃裁判这份工作的主要原因。2017年NASO对全美17487名来自各个等级的裁判进行的全国裁判调查显示，1970年成为裁判的平均年龄为19到20岁。如今，这个数字是42岁。
　　"Younger people aren’t coming into this. They’re making a different choice，" Mano said."So that stark reality forces us to deal with recruiting people and retaining them once they’re here." That recruitment includes more actively seeking out "underrepresented groups"（including women） to enter the field， something approximately 64 percent of officials who responded to the NASO survey felt should be happening.
　　“年轻人不愿意要这份工作，他们做出了不一样的选择。”马诺说，“严峻的现实迫使我们招募并留住裁判。”招募工作包括更积极地寻找“代表不足的群体（包括女性）”，NASO调查接近64%的受访者认为应当如此。 　　Violet Palmer had worked in women’s NCAA Division I college ball for about eight years when she received a phone call from the NBA to invite her to its training program. "I joined the program and did very well，" Palmer said during a phone interview. "I learned that all you have to do is be in the top of your class of the training program and if there’s a position open in the league， you will get your opportunity. Lo and behold， in 1997 I received my phone call and got my opportunity to referee in the league.”
　　维奥雷特·帕尔默在NCAA女子一级联盟做了大约八年裁判，才接到NBA邀请她参加培训项目的电话。“我参加了项目，表现得很好。”帕尔默在电话采访时表示，“我了解到，只要培训时保持顶尖成绩，只要联盟有空缺，那就是几乎你就能留下。你瞧，1997年我接到了电话，得到了在联盟做裁判的机会。”
　　Palmer went on to referee for 18 seasons and is now a referee manager for the league. "I actually crossed over to the dark side，" she joked，"because it’s almost like I went from being a referee on the floor， and then I end up retiring and now I’m on the management side.”
　　帕尔默做了18年裁判，现在担任联盟的裁判经理。“我其实跨到了黑暗一边。”她开玩笑说，“因为这就好比我过去是球场上的裁判，退休后成了管理人员。”
　　Dee Kantner， who started at the same time as Palmer， was fired after five years for"not making sufficient progress in her own development，" according to an NBA statement given to the Associated Press at the time of her firing. Kantner declined to be interviewed for this story but said in a recent interview with the AARP that her hiring was "groundbreaking，" while her firing was "devastating" but "one of the best things" that had ever happened to her."From that experience， I became a better person， I became a better official， I had a much healthier perspective in life，" she said.
　　和帕爾默同时进入NBA的迪·肯特纳，根据NBA在她被解雇时发给美联社的通稿中的说法，“由于没有在个人发展方面出现显著进展”而在五年后被解雇。肯特纳拒绝接受采访，但她此前在接受AARP的采访时表示，她被聘用具有“突破性意义”，被解雇虽然“很让人崩溃”，但却是发生在自己身上“最好的事情之一”。“有了那段经历，我成为了更好的人，更好的裁判，对人生也有了更健康的态度。”她说。
　　One year after the women were hired， the NBA saw its hiring practices come under scrutiny when it lost a gender discrimination lawsuit brought by Sandra Ortiz-Del Valle， another woman who aspired to officiate in the NBA. Both Palmer and Kantner testified at the time that they felt they were hired on merit and that their gender did not hold them back from progressing. The jury disagreed that was the case for Ortiz-Del Valle and found that her gender was the reason she had not landed a job as an NBA referee. Though the NBA argued that Palmer and Kanter were proof the league didn’t discriminate， it was ordered to pay $7.85 million in damages to Ortiz-Del Valle.
　　聘用女裁判的一年后，输掉与桑德拉·威尔的性别歧视官司后，NBA发现自身的雇佣政策遭到了严密审查，后者则是另一个致力于成为NBA裁判的女性。帕尔默和肯特纳当时均作证，表示得到聘用源于个人能力，性别并未起到拖累作用。但陪审团并不认同，他们判定威尔正是因为性别才没有得到NBA的工作。尽管NBA辩称帕尔默和肯特纳是联盟不歧视女性的证据，但还是被判定赔偿785万美元。 　　A lot has changed in the 20 years since the lawsuit. The NBA now has a more streamlined and intentional pipeline for potential referees. They come up through various leagues， often through the NCAA or other college leagues， professional-amateur tournaments or the high school circuit. Referees may be recruited by one of the NBA’s three full-time scouts， or they can attend an open tryout for a development camp invite. The top 100 candidates are identified and whittled down through a grassroots camp， midlevel camp and elite camp. The top performers at the elite camp are hired into the G League. From there， they can move on to the WNBA and NBA.

　　那场官司后的20年间，形势发生了巨大变化。如今NBA对有志于成为NBA的人来说，提供了更简便，更有针对性的渠道。NBA裁判来源多样，主要来自NCAA或其他大学联赛，职业业余联盟或高中联赛。他们可能由NBA的三个全职球探之一招募，也可以接受发展训练营邀请参加公开试训。联盟会选出前100的候选人，通过草根营，中级营和精英训练营筛选。精英训练营中表现最突出的人会被发展联盟聘用。以发展联盟为起点，他们可以进入WNBA和NBA。
　　Recently installed to supervise the process is Michelle D. Johnson， the league’s new Senior Vice President and Head of Referee Operations， who was brought in last October to oversee officials in all three leagues， as well as focus on refining the scouting， development and evaluation processes. According to numbers provided by the NBA， 16 of the 65 referees （28 percent） in the NBA G League are women， and at the conclusion of the 2017 WNBA season， 12 of the 32 referees （37 percent） were women.
　　最近上任，負责监管这一流程的是米切尔·约翰逊，她是联盟新任副总裁，兼任裁判部门主管。去年十月，她开始负责三个联盟的裁判工作，同时负责提高发掘，培养和评估裁判的流程。根据NBA提供的数据，发展联盟的65名裁判有16名（28%）为女性；2017年WNBA赛季结束时，32名裁判中有12名为女性（37%）。
　　Despite all the progress， just a single woman officiates in the NBA today—Lauren Holtkamp. Now in her fourth season， Holtkamp started on her path to the NBA after playing Division II college ball at Drury University. In graduate school， she began officiating youth games before moving on to the high school level and， later， college. By that time， she was living in Atlanta and working toward a Master of Divinity at Emory University.
　　尽管取得了这么多进展，但目前的NBA只有一名女裁判——劳伦·霍特坎普。已经在NBA工作了四年的霍特坎普在德鲁里大学打过NCAA二级联赛后开始向NBA努力。读研究生期间，她先是吹罚青少年比赛，随后担任高中比赛裁判，最后进入大学联赛。那时，她住在亚特兰大，正在攻读埃默里大学神学硕士学位。
　　"I was working Division II NCAA and some junior college and working high school basketball as well，" Holtkamp said in a phone interview. "The way you get hired on the college ranks is you go to these summer camps； they’re like evaluation camps. And Dee [Kantner] was a teacher at one of those.” 　　“我吹罚NCAA二级联赛，也在大专和高中篮球比赛做裁判。”霍特坎普在电话采访时表示，“想被大学联赛聘用，你得参加夏季训练营，那就像评估训练营。迪（肯特纳）是其中一个训练营里的老师。”
　　Kantner watched Holtkamp work， and a few weeks later， Holtkamp sat with Kantner at a WNBA game. At the time， Kantner was an NCAA referee and working as the Supervisor of Officials for the WNBA—a position she held for a decade， from 2004 to 2015. "I asked her a lot of questions and just kind of soaked it in，" Holtkamp said. From there， Kantner connected her with former official George Toliver， the NBA’s Associate Vice President of Referee Performance and Development， who ran a teaching camp， which led to an invitation to the NBA Summer League and then to the D-League（now the G League）. Then she moved on to the WNBA and， eventually， the NBA， where she was briefly joined by another female referee， Brenda Pantoja， in the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons， when both were officially on assignment for the league. （Unlike Holtkamp， Pantoja was not hired. But on Sunday she and Kantner helped officiate the women’s Division I national championship game.）
　　肯特纳看到了霍特坎普的表现，几周后，霍特坎普在一场WNBA的比赛中和肯特纳坐在了一起。肯特纳那时是WNBA的裁判，也是联赛的裁判监督——从2004年到2015年，她担任这一职务已有十年之久。“我问了她很多问题，完全沉浸在其中。”霍特坎普说。在那之后，肯特纳介绍她与前裁判，NBA裁判表现及培养副总裁乔治·托利弗认识，后者开办了一个培训营；这让霍特坎普获得NBA夏季联赛的邀请，直至进入发展联盟。她吹罚了WNBA比赛，最终进入NBA。2012-13赛季和2013-14赛季，霍特坎普曾短暂拥有一个女同事布兰达·潘托亚，两人都是NBA的正式裁判。（和霍特坎普不同，潘托亚并未被聘用。不过在周日，她和肯特纳会协助吹罚大学女子一级联赛的比赛。）

THOUGH EVERYONE INTERVIEWED FOR THIS STORY EXPRESSED OPTIMISM ABOUT THE PIPELINE OF FEMALE OFFICIALS IN THE G LEAGUE AND WNBA， WHEN ASKED WHY MORE WOMEN HAVEN’T PROGRESSED FROM THE WNBA TO THE NBA. PALMER BELIEVES THE REASON WE HAVEN’T SEEN MORE WOMEN IS SIMPLE： "I DON’T SEE A WOMAN WHO IS READY RIGHT NOW TO MAKE THAT JUMP INTO THE NBA .”

盡管每一个接受采访的人均对女性裁判进入发展联盟和WNBA表达出乐观情绪，但被问到为什么没有更多女性从WNBA进入NBA时，帕尔默认为原因很简单：“我没有看到一个明显做好准备进入NBA的女性。”

　　Though everyone interviewed for this story expressed optimism about the pipeline of female officials in the G League and WNBA， neither Johnson nor Holtkamp had an answer when asked why more women haven’t progressed from the WNBA to the NBA. Palmer believes the reason we haven’t seen more women is simple："I don’t see a woman who is ready right now to make that jump into the NBA because， clearly， if there was a woman ready， they would get a job and have their opportunity.”
　　尽管每一个接受采访的人均对女性裁判进入发展联盟和WNBA表达出乐观情绪，但被问到为什么没有更多女性从WNBA进入NBA时，约翰逊和霍特坎普都无法给出回答。帕尔默认为原因很简单：“我没有看到一个明显做好准备进入NBA的女性，因为很明显，如果有女性做好了准备，她们就会得到机会，得到工作。” 　　Still， it’s hard to imagine that， in 20 years， only three women have ever been good enough to be given the opportunity. But Johnson explains that， of the thousands of officials on the league’s scouting radar， only about 30 will emerge as real prospects for a job in the league each year. That， combined with the fact that there is not much turnover at the other end in terms of people retiring from the NBA’s roster of 65 officials， means "it’s really competitive for people to go out and show what they can do，" Johnson said.
　　尽管如此，我们还是很难想象，20年时间，只有三名女性优秀到了能得到机会的程度。但约翰逊解释道，在联盟关注的数千名裁判中，每年只有大约30人有机会竞争工作岗位。再加上NBA裁判的变动率不高，65名裁判的退休人数不多，约翰逊表示，这意味着“竞争激烈，人们必须展示自己的能力。”
　　An NBA spokesperson said that over the past 10 years， almost 19 percent of officials who work in its development league end up with a full-time NBA job. For comparison’s sake， Minor League Baseball estimates that just 5 percent of officials who work in the minor leagues will end up with a job in Major League Baseball.
　　一名NBA发言人表示，过去十年，约有19%的发展联盟裁判获得了NBA的全职工作。作为对比，MLB小联盟里的裁判只有5%会得到进入大联盟工作的机会。
　　Palmer thinks just asking the question of why there aren’t more women oversimplifies the problem. "You have to realize that the NCAA program right now has really grown and the money is really， really good and you have a lot of women ... who don’t want to be NBA referees，" she said. "They go， ’Why would I go and have to work a longer season that’s grueling when I can stay and referee a league that I love being a part of？’ You can’t fault women for that.”
　　帕爾默认为，提出为什么没有更多女裁判这个问题，其实是过于简化了问题。“你要明白，NCAA现在真的得到了发展，薪金待遇非常高，有很多女性……不想做NBA裁判。”她说，“她们觉得，‘为什么我要工作一个漫长而痛苦的赛季，而我本可以留在一个自己喜欢的联赛？’你不能因为这个指责她们。”
　　Officiating in the NBA is a hard job， one the league argues takes time， effort—refs run four to five miles per game， according to Johnson—and lots of reps to master. "They need to have leadership skills and communication skills， and so that professional experience takes a few years of experience to really come to fruition， so that might explain why we can’t just open the door and have people walk in. They have to be ready to go，" explained Johnson.
　　在NBA做裁判是一项艰苦的工作，联盟表示这需要时间和精力——约翰逊表示，裁判场均跑动距离为5英里，还有很多需要应对的问题。“他们需要领导和沟通能力，这需要有几年经验才能起到效果。所以这大概解释了为什么我们不能打开大门随意让人们进来。他们必须做好准备。”约翰逊解释道。
　　That’s where it is hoped the pipeline the league has spent years developing will come into play. "It takes a certain type of referee， period， but especially for a woman referee，" Palmer said."At this point， I think for our women， they’re up and coming. They’re getting their training， and when their opportunity presents itself， they will have their chance.”
　　正是因此，人们希望联盟花费多年打造的上升渠道能够起到作用。“很简单，这需要特定类型的裁判，特别是女裁判。”帕尔默说，“现在，我觉得对我们女性来说，她们就是候选。她们得到了训练，当机会出现时，她们会得到自己的机会。”
　　Johnson agrees. "You get the sense that[Holtkamp] won’t be alone for long."
　　约翰逊也同意，“你能感觉到，霍特坎普独自一人的情况不会很久。”