Considering Gender Inequities in Sport
By Samantha Heron, edited by Andrea Carey
International Women’s Day is on March 8th, 2023. International Women’s Day (IWD) sees a number of initiatives to help forge a gender equal world. Celebrating women’s achievements and increasing visibility while calling out inequalities is key. Specific to sport: IWD celebrates women athletes and applaud when equity is achieved in pay, sponsorship, and visibility.
In the sport sector, over the last year women have successfully obtained positions and leadership roles, made bold and large investments, and advocated clearly for an equitable and positive sport system in ways that have fundamentally altered our sport system.
While this feels like progress, when we look at the roadblocks in place that women had to and continue to overcome despite the progress, we are left to juggle the challenge of normalizing that women SHOULD be in these spaces while acknowledging that to be in the spaces, (the collective we) must support the work and extend care to women because existing in these spaces is really hard.
At the end of 2022, Christine Sinclair and Diana Matheson announced they are starting a professional women’s soccer league that will operate in Canada. Sinclair and Matheson, members of the reigning Olympic champion team, are trailblazing a path as investors in women’s sport. The Canadian women’s soccer team, and women’s soccer in Canada has a storied history as international leaders on the pitch with an immense following; investing in this league is equalizing and long overdue.
The investment by Sinclair and Matheson reflects the growing popularity in women’s sports, that is largely attributed to increased accessibility to women’s sports. According to Forbes, viewership, competition and events, sponsorships and investment in women’s sport is surging, with the WNBA reporting a 51% year over year viewership increase. FIFA just moved the Women’s World Cup in Australia to larger stadiums due to demand for tickets. The US and Canada Women’s Hockey Rivalry Series saw venues sell out and broke a record with 15,000 attending the game in Seattle last November.
Beyond viewership and investment, we saw assistant defensive line coach Lori Locust and assistant strength and conditioning coach Maral Javadifar of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers be the first women staff to win a Superbowl. Serena Williams is on track to be the first female athlete billionaire, and her portfolio as an angel investor demonstrates her commitment to individuals from under represented backgrounds – 53% of the companies or start-ups she invests in are owned by women.
Yet it’s hard to understand while in some arenas women’s sport is being legitimized, in other places women are still advocating for fair and equal pay. In February 2023, Canada Soccer announced funding cuts to the men’s and women’s national teams, the women’s team has already been advocating for equal funding to the men’s team for years, and the given that the women’s team put Canada Soccer on the world stage with their repeated successes it is especially disheartening that they still aren’t even receiving equal pay to the men, and then what they do have is cut back. The women’s team attempted a strike at the SheBelieves Cup until threatened with legal action by Soccer Canada, and they ended up playing under protest.
And so how can we consider this juxtaposition in investment, advocacy, and legitimization of women in sport?
According to the Canadian Women and Sport leadership snapshot, the number of women holding board seats in the national sport system has jumped 5% with women holding 41% of board positions in 2022. Staff representation is changing where at the national level, 47% of women are considered lead staff within their organization, and 50% of organizations at the provincial and local level have women as lead staff.
While the positive change in representation is leading to meaningful change, we know women in these roles, and women who aspire to be in these roles experience bias, higher levels of discrimination ESPECIALLY if they are someone who identifies as BIPOC, LBTQIA2s+, and/or having a disability, pay inequities, and judgement surrounding motherhood and family. We require leadership that supports the decision making reflected by Sinclair and Matheison, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Williams. But why is it so challenging to normalize this leadership and move past the barriers?
The “see it to be it” mantra comes to mind. Recently a campaign and advocacy initiative was launched called Correct the Internet which features an ad about Christine Sinclair and how the internet has failed to recognize her as the top goal scorer in the world. is catchy and powerful – and a message for us to all reflect on what we know about women leaders and how we know it. If we can’t get correct information about women’s accomplishments, where do we truly begin to see women in the roles and places where we need them the most.
Our biases run deep… and as the ad shares, we continue to have mis-information that is limiting what we can believe to be true about women and women’s leadership. Patriarchal systems have made it incredibly difficult for women to break through to the roles and opportunities that they deserve. When they do make it into those roles, it is still challenging to be heard, seen and appreciated as capable in those positions. It can also be lonely and isolating as they might be the “only” or the “exception” as there may not be other women there with them.
This International Women’s Day, let’s recognize that women’s leadership is actually essential to the success of organizations and our ways forward. Women leaders are not the exception, but the opportunities to showcase this is often still limited by barriers and biases. Let’s socialize watching women’s sports the same ways that we have watching men’s sports. Let’s choose to respect the contributions and accomplishments of women – each and every day – and let’s lift each other up.
Read the blog on our website here.