Courtney and I talk race strategy in the start area.
Lining up at the start of an IPC World Cup in the lead up to the 2010 Games I had a rather unusual experience for a female athlete. As I skied into position, I glanced across the start line and saw all my competitors were men. I should explain – the event was the semifinal of a nordic skiing sprint and I was the guide for Courtney Knight. So the ‘start line’ I was on was actually about 5 feet ahead of the official start line where Courtney was standing and ‘my competitors’ were the other guides. This wasn’t the only time this would happen – at the 2010 Paralympics, I was one of only two female guides skiing with the 14 or so competitors in the women’s visually impaired category. I call this the case of the missing girl guides.
I raise this point because, for me, it was this absence of women on the racecourse that alerted me to the broader issue of under-representation of women in the Paralympic movement. A recently published report by Dr. Maureen Smith and Dr. Alison Wrynn for the Women’s Sport Foundation analyzed the rates of participation of women at the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games. They looked at the number of female competitors as well as the number of women involved in sport leadership roles associated with the Games. Their conclusion? Women’s participation in the Olympic movement is increasing (although there is a still a ways to go) while women’s participation in the Paralympics is trailing far behind…
The numbers are pretty bleak. Only 24 percent of the competitors at the 2010 Paralympics were women (this compares to 40 percent at the Olympic Games). The report doesn’t specify but, based on my observations at the Games, the disparity between men and women become even larger when you include coaches and team staff in those numbers. In leadership positions, women fill 18 of the 53 seats on the International Paralympic Committee’s (IPC) councils. None of the IPC regional committees have female presidents. Without restating all the numbers (the full report is available here), let it suffice to say women occupy approximately 20 to 30 percent of leadership positions associated with the Winter Paralympic Games. Furthermore, none of these numbers appear to have improved significantly over the past two Paralympic quadrennials.
Identifying exactly where the disparity occurs is a far more complex issue. But if we combine what we know about girls’ and women’s participation in sport with what we know about women living with disabilities, the picture comes into focus. In North America, at least, girls consistently rate lower in terms of participation in sport and physical activity compared to boys of the same age – girls are less likely than boys to be on a high school sport team (or any kind of organized sport team). They are also less likely to belong to a community sport club or to participate in outdoor sports such as snowboarding, hiking, trail running or climbing (2007 Tucker Center Research Report). Girls drop out of sport at a higher rate than boys and typically at a younger age (2007 Tucker Center Research Report). When considered alongside the additional barriers faced by women with a disability – low employment rates, few accessible programs and a lack of awareness as to what sport opportunities might be available to them (see last week’s post for a more thorough analysis) – it’s easy to see why women with disabilities are under-represented in sport.
But why does this matter? We could address the issue as a question of equality. We could even borrow a page from the women ski jumpers that argued for inclusion in the Olympics on the basis of discrimination. I, however, prefer to think of it in terms of lost opportunities; lost opportunities for women and girls who never get that chance to represent their country on an international stage and lost opportunities for all of us who never get to see what they could achieve. Women represent more than 50 percent of people living with a disability worldwide – I like to call this group, ‘potential-in-waiting.’
You see, there are incredible female Paralympians out there pushing the limits each and every day – I’ve been lucky enough to meet many of them. My personal hero is
Colette on her way to receive a medal at the 2010 Paralympics.
Colette Bourgonje – she’s a fierce competitor who refuses to give up an inch on the racecourse (as evidenced by her 10 Paralympic medals) and I’ve never met an athlete who is more generous with her time and knowledge. Then there’s Elisabeth Walker-Young, a four-time Paralympian who is now preparing to lead the Canadian delegation to London as Assistant Chef de Mission, drawing on all her experience as an athlete to make the experience a great one for the next generation. I could also name my teammates Courtney and Mary, who learned from their experiences preparing for the Paralympic Games and are now using that knowledge to develop first contact programs for people with disabilities in their home region. Or Margarita, who stood on the top of the podium at every race at last year’s Canada Games and inspired a whole new group of Canadian para-nordic athletes. Or Jody, who taught her children that a mom who likes to ski fast and carry a gun is pretty cool. Or Robbi, who used skiing to jump start a para-cycling career that is shaping up to be pretty epic. But when I see these incredible women and their contributions to the sport world, I can’t help but think ‘who else might be out there?’ It’s often said that women with a disability are invisible in society – what champion athlete, stellar coach or tireless volunteer have we overlooked? That’s the reason we need more women in sport and Paralympic sport in particular – we’re less without them.
So why do I care if, as a guide, I’m lining up next to a group of men? For the most part, I don’t. I respect an athlete’s right to choose her own guide – and if that guide happens to be a brother, a husband, a male coach or a guy from her home club, then so be it. They are still supporting the cause of women in sport by guiding a female skier and that makes me happy. But on the other hand, I am very glad that Courtney chose to ski with a ‘girl guide’ because it is one small but concrete step towards keeping another girl involved in sport (me!). There is something very fun and special about two women who can connect over a common desire to go fast.
I’m going to conclude this post with one final thought. This past November, I had the opportunity to attend a conference at the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport. The conference was entitled ‘Creating Change’ and at the end of the day we were all asked to come up with one concrete way we could promote/facilitate change for girls and women in sport. I froze. I couldn’t think of a single thing. I sat in my chair and hoped no one would look at me. This was particularly shameful given that I had just spent the whole day listening to fascinating, smart people talk about how they had created change. I realize now this is what I call ‘paralysis by analysis’ – I thought about it too hard. What I should have replied with was ‘keep doing sport and inviting girls and women to join me at every opportunity.’ It is that simple.
Now, I’m putting the question to you. How will you encourage women with disabilities to participate in sport? What changes can we make so that the next report shows a different, more feminine face of Paralympic sport?
Hint: if you need some suggestions to get started here is the ‘photobooth‘ from the conference where participants posted their ideas… not all of them froze like me