Jayna Hefford and Carmelina Moscato are two Canadian professional female athletes driving the movement and conversation surrounding the absence of professional women’s leagues in Canada’s sport world. In an interview, the athletes discuss their disappointment in Canada for slacking with this compared to other countries, arguing that Canadian sports is more conservative than we may think. Hefford and Moscato understand, regardless of Canadian women athletes’ skills or success in the Olympics, having national women’s teams must make sense to the businesspeople. Sports, especially hockey, is a huge part of Canada’s identity, still, some do not see the value in creating women’s teams. Having professional women’s leagues goes beyond competition. Examples include, growing national pride, inspiring girls and building Canadas leaders through sport.
These aspects are important to Canadians but still gender inequality and lack of female representation in Canadian sport persists. Throughout history female athletes have always had to be resilient, pushing boundaries to participate, compete and train. Pushing these limits to create professional leagues is not new territory. Christine Sinclair of Canada’s national women’s soccer team expressed concern in an article stating that women looking for a professional environment must leave the country. Canada has no professional leagues for women, the athletes miss out on opportunities to train, improve and gain success within their own country. This leaves Canada at risk of falling behind in sport. Sinclair is frustrated that Canada lacks professional women’s leagues stating, “it needs to happen sooner, than later”.
Research suggests that hegemonic masculinity dominating the world of sport presents as one of the major issue’s female athletes face. This influence creates problems surrounding access, treatment, and representation for female athletes no matter what skill level (Senne, 2016). Women’s participation in sport has come a long way now that women can participate in Olympic sports and have access to professional level teams, but sport institutions and culture are built on the masculine norm.
Beaton F.
Sport, Not Games ⚽ 