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A pragmatic solution for gender equity in Canadian elite sport

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Abstract

Traditional anti-discrimination measures have failed to correct gender bias in elite sport in Canada. There are more opportunities for male athletes to be named to national teams or receive Sport Canada funding. Developing female athletes see fewer opportunities to advance to the elite level and are thus more likely than their male counterparts to drop out of sport before they achieve their potential. Elite sport plays an important role in Canadian society, so the current inequities must be addressed to bring the elite sport system in line with Canadian values. Gender equity in elite sport should be substantively defined as the existence of equal opportunities to advance. Proportionality, modeled on the US Constitutional Title IX equity requirements, is the most pragmatic way to give effect to this definition of equity. This solution requires proportional, equitably funded men’s and women’s teams for all sports that field athletes of both sexes. The solution will also require ending the current practice of comparing men and women in selection and funding decisions. Enforcement will require forum access, which can be achieved through three connected components, each of which addresses a different, necessary aspect of enforcement. The Sport Canada Dispute Resolution Centre can ensure that proportional criteria are properly implemented. The Canadian Human Rights Commission can hear challenges to selection criteria themselves. Finally, Charter litigation, based on the Section 15 equality guarantees, can address the systemic issues that arise as a result of inequitable resource allocation.

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Notes

  1. Sagen v. Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, 2009 BCCA 522, [2009] BCJ no 2293 [Sagen CA].

  2. David Ebner, “Female canoe racer takes Olympic inequality to court”, The Globe and Mail (19 July, 2012) S1 [Ebner].

  3. C.f. Linda Hamilton Krieger, “The Content of our Categories: A Cognitive Bias Approach to Discrimination and Equal Employment Opportunity”, in Libby S Adler et al., eds, Women and the Law (New York: Foundation Press, 2008) 600 at 601 [Hamilton Krieger].

  4. Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982, being schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (UK), 1982, c 11, ss 15, 32 [Charter].

  5. Canadian Physical Activity and Sport Act, SC 2003, c 2 at Preamble [Sport Act].

  6. Yvonne Lafferty and Jim McKay, “Suffragettes in Satin Shorts? Gender and Competitive Boxing” (2004) 27:3 Qualitative Sociology 249 at 271 [Lafferty].

  7. Canada, Federal and Provincial Ministers for Sport, Recreation and Physical Activity, Canadian Sport Policy, May 24, 2002, online: Sport Research Intelligence Sportive http://sirc.ca/CSPRenewal.cfm at 14 [Sport Policy 2002].

  8. Gertrude Pfister, “Gender Equality and Elite Sport” (Paper delivered at the Enlarged partial agreement on sport, Strasbourg, 28 November 2011), EPAS (2011) INF 25 at 2 [Pfister].

  9. International Olympic Committee, Olympic Charter. (Lausanne: International Olympic Committee 2011) Online: International Olympic Committee http://www.olympic.org at 14.

  10. Ibid at 10.

  11. Ibid.

  12. Ibid at 11.

  13. See Pfister, supra note 8.

  14. See Christy Halbert, “Tough Enough and Woman Enough: Stereotypes, Discrimination and Impression Management Among Women Professional Boxers” (1997) 21 J Sport and Social Issues 7 at 22 [Halbert].

  15. See Pfister, supra note 8.

  16. Marjolein Van den Brink, Titia Loenen & Jet Tigchelaar, “Sex segregation and equality in a multicultural society: inferiority as a standard for legal acceptability” (2010) 6 Utrecht L Rev 115 at 127 [Van den Brink].

  17. See Halbert, supra note 14 at 16.

  18. Margot Young, “The IOC Made Me Do it: Women’s Ski Jumping, VANOC, and the 2010 Winter Olympics” (2009) 18 Const F 95 at 100 [Young].

  19. Ibid.

  20. Ibid at 95.

  21. See Halbert, supra note 14 at 26.

  22. See generally Lafferty, supra note 6 at 251, 266.

  23. Pfister, supra note 8.

  24. See e.g. Ariel Levy, “A ring of one’s own: can a teen-age Olympic hopeful remake the image of women’s boxing?” The New Yorker 88:12 (7 May 2012) 38 at 43.

  25. Womens’ Sports Foundation, Pay Inequity in Athletics (March 2007), online: Women’s Sport Foundation www.womenssportfoundation.org.

  26. See generally Lafferty, supra note 6 at 253.

  27. Ibid at 260.

  28. Allison Huggins & Shirley Randell, “The Contribution of Sports to Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment” (Paper delivered at the International Conference on Gender Equity on Sports for Social Change, Kigali, 2007), [unpublished] online: International Federation of University Women www.ifuw.org/rwanda/media/women_sports.pdf at 8 [Huggins and Randall].

  29. Ibid.

  30. Libby S Adler et al., Women and the Law (New York: Foundation Press, 2008) at 536.

  31. See Ibid.

  32. See Huggins and Randall, supra note 28 at 5.

  33. Ibid.

  34. Ibid at 6.

  35. Ibid at 5.

  36. See generally Caroline Mala Corbin, “Above the Law? The Constitutionality of the Ministerial Exemption from Antidiscrimination Law” (2006) 75 Fordham L Rev 1965 at 1965.

  37. C.f. Ibid at 1971.

  38. Sagen v. Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, 2009 BCSC 942 at para 97, [2009] BCJ No 1393 [Sagen SC].

  39. Hamilton Krieger, supra note 3.

  40. Ibid.

  41. Ibid.

  42. See Tristin K. Green, “Discrimination in Workplace Dynamics: Toward a Structural Account of Disparate Treatment Theory” (2008) in Adler, supra note 30, 594 at 594 [Green].

  43. Speed Skating Canada, High Performance Bulletin # 164 – Long Track, online: Speed Skating Canada http://www.speedskating.ca at 4.

  44. Green, supra note 42.

  45. Ibid.

  46. Ibid.

  47. Ibid.

  48. Ibid.

  49. See generally Pfister, supra note 8 at 4.

  50. Law v Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration), [1999] 1 SCR 497 at para 88, [1999] SCJ no. 12.

  51. Van den Brink, supra note 16 at 117.

  52. Ibid at 118.

  53. See generally Pfister, supra note 8 at 4.

  54. Peter Donnelly, Bruce Kidd & Mark Norman “Gender Equity in Canadian Interuniversity Sport: a Biannual Report” CSPS Gender Equity Report #1 (2011), Online: University of Toronto Centre for Sport Policy Studies http://www.sportpolicystudies.ca at 10 [Donnelly].

  55. Ibid.

  56. See Sport Policy 2002, supra note 7 at 8.

  57. Ibid at 16.

  58. Canada, Federal and Provincial Ministers for Sport, Recreation and Physical Activity, Canadian Sport Policy, June 27, 2012, online: Sport Research Intelligence Sportive http://sirc.ca/CSPRenewal.cfm at 4,17 [Sport Policy 2012].

  59. Sport Policy 2002, supra note 7 at 8.

  60. C.f. Pfister, supra note 8 (Canada’s sport system is similarly structured to the European system, at 6).

  61. See Ibid at 7.

  62. C.f. Ibid at 8.

  63. C.f. Ibid.

  64. C.f. Ibid.

  65. See Ibid.

  66. Ibid at 9.

  67. See Ibid.

  68. Ibid.

  69. Young, supra note 18 at 102.

  70. Ibid at 101–102.

  71. Sagen SC, supra note 38 at para 81.

  72. Ibid.

  73. Ibid at para 99.

  74. Ibid at paras 86, 99.

  75. Ibid at para 90.

  76. Donnelly, supra note 54 at 9.

  77. Ibid.

  78. Ibid at 4.

  79. Ibid at 5.

  80. Ibid at 17.

  81. Sport Policy 2002, supra note 7 at 10.

  82. Ibid at 17.

  83. See Sagen SC, supra note 38 at para 95.

  84. Ibid at para 94.

  85. Young, supra note 18 at 101.

  86. Sagen SC, supra note 38 at para 95.

  87. Athletics Canada, 2012–2013 Athletic Assistance Program (AAP) Policy – Olympic Stream, online: Athletics Canada http://www.athletics.ca, s 1 [Athletics Canada AAP].

  88. Canada, Canadian Heritage, Sport Canada Athlete Assistance Program: Policies, Procedures and Guidelines (Ottawa: Public Works and Government Services Canada, 2012), online: Canadian Heritage http://www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/sc, s 4.2.1 [Sport Canada AAP].

  89. Ibid, s 3.1.

  90. Ibid, s 5.6.

  91. Ibid, s 13.1.

  92. Ibid.

  93. Sport Canada AAP, supra note 88, s 5.2.1.

  94. Athletics Canada AAP, supra note 87, s 5.5.

  95. Athletics Canada, Results Archive, online: Athletics Canada http://www.athletics.ca.

  96. Ibid.

  97. Cross Country Canada, Athlete Assistance Program Carding Criteria 2012–2013, online: Cross Country Canada http://www.cccski.com, s 5.2 [Cross Country Canada AAP].

  98. Cross Country Canada, CPL Points Database, online: Cross Country Canada http://www.cccski.com [Cross Country Canada].

  99. Ibid.

  100. Gymnastics Canada, Women’s Artistic Gymnastics: Sport Canada Athlete Assistance Program Carding Process – July 1, 2012- June 30, 2013, online: Gymnastics Canada http://www.gymcan.org, s 1 [Women’s Gymnastics AAP]; Gymnastics Canada, Men’s National Team Carding Criteria: for Nominations for the 2012–2013 Carding Cycle, online: Gymnastics Canada http://www.gymcan.org, s 1 [Men’s Gymnastics AAP].

  101. See Men’s Gymnastics AAP Ibid, s 6.

  102. Gymnastics Canada, Results Archive, online: Gymnastics Canada http://www.gymcan.org.

  103. Ibid.

  104. Pfister, supra note 8 at 6.

  105. Ibid at 9.

  106. Janet Judge & Timothy O’Brian. Equity and Title IX in Intercollegiate Athletics A Practical Guide for Colleges and Universities — 2011, ed by Karen Morrison, online: NCAA Gender Equity Task Force http://www.NCAA.org/gender_equity at 13 [Judge].

  107. Ibid at i.

  108. Ibid.

  109. Ellen Staurowsky, “Title IX in its third Decade: The Commission on Opportunity in Athletics” (2003) 2 ESLJ 70 at 73 [Staurowsky].

  110. Ibid at 71.

  111. Ibid at 77.

  112. Ibid.

  113. Ibid at 75.

  114. Ibid.

  115. Ibid at 74.

  116. Ibid.

  117. Judge, supra note 106 at 23.

  118. Ibid.

  119. Ibid.

  120. Ibid.

  121. Ibid at 135.

  122. Staurowsky, supra note 109 at 72.

  123. Donnelly, supra note 54 at 11.

  124. Ibid.

  125. Ibid.

  126. Ibid.

  127. Ibid.

  128. Ibid at 5.

  129. Cross Country Canada, supra note 98.

  130. See Donnelly, supra note 54 at 11.

  131. Van den Brink, supra note 16 at 116.

  132. See Ibid; Charter, supra note 4, s 15.

  133. Van den Brink, Ibid at 120.

  134. Men’s Gymnastics AAP, supra note 100.

  135. Women’s Sports Foundation. Reasons Girls Drop Out of Sports (2012), online: Fast and Female www.fastandfemale.com.

  136. Ibid.

  137. C.f. Sanger, Carol, “Decisional Dignity: Teenage Abortion, Bypass Hearings, and the Misuse of the Law” (2008) 18 Colum J Gender & L 409 at 485.

  138. C.f. Ibid at 488.

  139. Ibid at 488.

  140. C.f. Ibid at 490.

  141. Sport Canada AAP, supra note 88, s 13.1.

  142. Ibid.

  143. Sport Act, supra note 5, s 4(1).

  144. Sport Policy 2002, supra note 7 at 10.

  145. Ibid.

  146. Sport Policy 2012, supra note 58.

  147. Sport Act, supra note 5; Canadian Human Rights Act, RSC 1985, c H-6 [Canadian Act].

  148. Canadian Act, Ibid, s 8.

  149. See Young, supra note 18 at 101.

  150. Ibid at 96.

  151. Sagen SC, supra note 38 at para 119.

  152. Ibid.

  153. Dunsmuir v New Brunswick, [2008] 1 SCR 190 at para 47, [2008] SCJ no 9.

  154. Canadian Act, supra note 147, s 1.

  155. Ibid, s 11(2); See e.g. Alberta Human Rights Act, RSA 2000, c A-25.5, s 6(1).

  156. Canadian Act, Ibid, ss 10, 9(1).

  157. Ibid, s 11(3).

  158. Ibid, s 11(7).

  159. Ibid, ss 11(4), 27(2).

  160. Perrera v The Queen, [1998] FCJ no 413 at para 230, 98 CLLC (Fed CA).

  161. Ebner, supra note 2.

  162. Ibid.

  163. Sport Act, supra note 5, s 1; Sport Policy 2012, supra note 58 at 4.

  164. [2008] 2 SCR 483, 294 DLR (4th) 1.

  165. Ibid at para 17.

  166. 2011 SCC 12 at para 40.

  167. Ibid.

  168. [1997] 3 SCR 624 at para 73, 151 DLR (4th) 577.

  169. [1986] 1 SCR 103, 26 DLR (4th) 200.

  170. Ibid.

  171. Sagen SC, supra note 38 at para 121.

  172. Sagen CA, supra note 1 at para 56.

  173. Young, supra note 18 at 96.

  174. Ibid.

  175. Ibid at 97.

  176. Ibid.

  177. Ibid.

  178. Ibid.

  179. Sagen SC, supra note 38 at paras 13-34.

  180. Ibid at para 65.

  181. Ibid at para 56.

  182. Ibid at para 62.

  183. Ibid at para 63.

  184. See Ibid at para 65.

  185. Young, supra note 18 at 98.

  186. Ibid at 99.

  187. See Ibid.

  188. Sport Act, supra note 5, s 9(2).

  189. McKinney v University of Guelph, [1990] 3 SCR 299 at para 52, 76 DLR (4th) 545.

  190. Sport Act, supra note 5, s 5.

  191. Sport Policy 2012, supra note 58 at 17.

  192. Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority v Canadian Federation of Students – British Columbia Component, 2009 SCC 31 at para 22, [2009] 2 SCR 295.

  193. Ibid.

  194. Sagen SC, supra note 38 at para 72.

  195. Young, supra note 18 at 100.

  196. Sagen CA, supra note 1 at para 60.

  197. Ibid.

  198. Ibid at para 56; Young, supra note 18 at 100.

  199. Sagen CA, ibid.

  200. Young, supra note 18 at 100.

  201. Pfister, supra note 8.

References

Legislation

  • Alberta Human Rights Act, RSA (2000) c A-25.5

  • Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Part I of the Constitution Act (1982) Being schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (UK), 1982, c 11

  • Canadian Human Rights Act RSC (1985) c H-6

  • Canadian Physical Activity and Sport Act, SC (2003) c 2

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Jurisprudence

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Acknowledgments

She wishes to extend her heartfelt thanks to Professor Hoi Kong, McGill University, for his guidance, assistance and passion for this project.

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  1. Faculty of Law, McGill University, 3644 Peel Street, Montreal, QC, H3A 1W9, Canada

    Madeleine Williams (BA, 2010 Olympian, McGill University Faculty of Law (B.C.L/LL.B Candidate)

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Williams, M. A pragmatic solution for gender equity in Canadian elite sport. Int Sports Law J 13, 18–34 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40318-013-0015-3

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