In 2019/2020, Canadian Women & Sport partnered with graduate student Amina Haggar to explore the experiences of second-generation African Canadian teen girls in a community sport program in Ottawa, Ontario. Haggar, an MA Candidate under the supervision of Dr. Audrey Giles at the University of Ottawa, conducted interviews with eleven sport coordinators and coaches involved in the City of Ottawa’s Community Centre Basketball League (CCBL). The project was supported by a Match Grant from the Sport Information Resource Centre (SIRC). 

In studying the experiences of second-generation African Canadian girls in sport through the insights of community program leaders, Haggar was challenged with the task of “dwelling in the tensions,” to quote her supervisor. She dealt with highly complex ideas and experiences that related closely to her own experience as someone who immigrated to Canada at a young age, and who has been involved in community-based sport programs all her life as a participant, volunteer, and staff member.

Haggar sat down with Greer Gemin, Marketing and Communications Coordinator with Canadian Women & Sport, to talk about the research project, the impacts of COVID-19, and the key outcomes for community sport organizations. *This transcript has been edited for flow and clarity.

Check out this infographic for recommendations for sport practitioners to better engage second-generation African Canadian girls in sport.

Greer Gemin (GG): The recommendations from this research respond to the specific needs and barriers faced by second-generation African Canadian girls involved in community sport. Why did you choose to focus on this group of girls in your research?

Amina Haggar (AH): Within the academic literature on the participation of teen girls in sport, I never saw discussions of second-generation Canadians. You would see papers focusing on the experiences of ethnic minorities, Muslim girls, LGTBQ+ youth…those identities are often compartmentalized, and I wanted to explore how different intersections of identity relate to each other.Second-generation Canadians are a significant user group of community sport programs. It is important to understand how their cultural experiences and background influence their access to and participation in programs to ensure their needs are being met.

GG: The COVID-19 pandemic required you to change your research design from focusing on program participants, to interviewing program leaders. What was valuable or different about interviewing the activity leaders rather than the participants?

AH: Because this is a feminist project based in participatory principles, ideally the voices of the youth would be guiding the research and reflected in any knowledge mobilization products (e.g., academic publications). This wasn’t possible because of COVID-19 restrictions but should be a priority for any future study. With that said, there was a huge benefit to interviewing program staff. They form important relationships with program participants and have essentially watched these kids grow up. Many of the staff live in the community and were themselves program users and volunteers before becoming staff members. This brought invaluable depth to the research process and findings.

The CCBL’s key priority was understanding why girls were not joining their programming. The research question and study design were based on discussions I had with their staff, and we had a Community Advisory Board involved in all our decision making to ensure the project stayed true to the needs of the community.

GG: Why is it important to be so specific to community needs when addressing the challenge of keeping teen girls in sport?

AH: We need to move away from a one-size-fits-all philosophy. We make assumptions about the needs of groups of people, and we are always looking for the path of least resistance to offer community sport programming that is suitable for the greatest number of participants. It ultimately does a disservice to people who are overlooked in the first place. African Canadians deal with a lot of challenges that arise because of their racial identity, religious identity, gender, and socio-economic status. The only way you can deliver a quality program is by making sure it meets the needs of the community participating, and you can’t do that if you’re copying-and-pasting.

GG: What is one of your biggest takeaways or surprises from this research project?

AH: It wassurprising to me to learn the extent that babysitting duties disrupt program attendance. Limited access to affordable childcare services is a major barrier for low-income and working-class parents. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this challenge. With many parents depending on their teen daughters to babysit, the eldest girls within the family will often miss out on sport and physical activity. This speaks to the impact of systemic and structural challenges on the participation of African Canadian teen girls, particularly in low-income families. Addressing childcare needs in the short-term can open doors for more teen girls to participate in sport by breaking the cycle of dependence. Longer-term goals should also focus on shifting gender norms that contribute to unequal expectations that girls should take on babysitting responsibilities.

GG: Based on your research findings, what are some key recommendations for sport and physical activity leaders?

AH: Go all in, give the girls the prime-time slots and show them their program is important. I’m hoping this study will bring attention to the fact that ethnocultural minority second-generation Canadians require more attention in sport program and policy development as a growing segment of the Canadian population. Sport leaders can learn from the inclusive hiring practices used by CCBL coordinators to recruit coaches – at the CCBL, their program users become the future leaders and coaches of the programs. With this hiring model, lived experience is recognized as a key part of understanding the needs and challenges of community members.

I also think senior decision-makers across all community sport organizations need to create space for program leaders to share their experiences and knowledge. Staff know the barriers and challenges experienced by participants, but those barriers and challenges can persist if insights aren’t filtered up the organizational hierarchy. Better communication processes can help ensure the knowledge of those leaders who show up on Tuesdays from 3-8pm isn’t going to waste.

GG: We’ve spoken before about the idea that just having a girls’ program available isn’t enough. Can you elaborate?

AH:  We have to shift our thinking from asking “why aren’t girls coming to our programming?” to “why should they come?” What are we doing to ensure the program is meeting their needs and hitting any number of important considerations for quality sport?

We have to remember that youth are discerning customers. The girls can sense the level of effort and care put into a program and may react with ambivalence if they feel like an afterthought. Sure, they are focused on things like Instagram and Tik Tok, but they also think really deeply about their lives and have lots of different challenges and struggles that program leaders and decision-makers must consider for success.

This blog has been co-published by SIRC and Canadian Women & Sport as part of ongoing collaboration. While experiences of second-generation girls and newcomer girls are different, many of the recommendations for sport leaders are similar. You can find recommendations for sport organizations looking to better engage and integrate newcomer girls and women into sport and physical activity programming in Canadian Women & Sport’s new handbook.

About Amina

Amina Haggar is a University of Ottawa Master of Arts in Human Kinetics candidate under the supervision of Dr. Audrey Giles. She received her Bachelor of Science with specialization in Human Kinetics from the University of Ottawa in 2017. Using an intersectionality theoretical framework, Amina’s thesis-based research examines the recruitment and participation of second-generation African Canadian adolescent girls involved in the City of Ottawa’s Community Centre Basketball League (CCBL). In her youth, Amina spent numerous years working as a Sport Coordinator in the City of Ottawa’s Girls n’ Women and Sport Department and with the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa as a Youth Worker in the organization’s afterschool and summer-based recreational programs. Presently, Amina works at Somerset West Community Health Centre in the Children and Youth Services Department having previously served as a Community Development Support Worker, Youth Leadership Camp Coordinator, and board member on the Anti-racism Community Project. Amina is passionate about advancing opportunities for socially disadvantaged communities and empowering youth.

About SIRC:

Incorporated in 1973, SIRC, the Sport Information Resource Centre, is Canada’s leader and most trusted partner in advancing sport through knowledge and evidence. SIRC is committed to engaging with organizations and individuals involved in the development of sport, recreation and physical education in Canada and around the world, to enhance the capacity of our shared community to foster growth and the pursuit of excellence. Visit sirc.ca to learn more. SIRC is funded in part by the Government of Canada.

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Presented by Dina Bell-Laroche, Directing Change: Towards Gender Equitable Boards will include feature content from our new resource for sport organizations. This organization-focused webinar will leave participants with an understanding of how to create an inclusive board culture, the value of adding women to your board, and strategies to recruit more women.

Dina Bell-Laroche is also the author of our resource The Leading Edge: Good Practices for Creating Gender-Equitable Boards in Sport.

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This pragmatic, turnkey tool provides a step-by-step approach for the mentor and the mentee. The result is effective and sustainable mentorship that produces tangible benefits. The model also offers guidance for sport administrators to support them in setting up and managing a mentorship initiative to advance female coaches in their sport.

The model is:

• Based on theory and supported by evidence
• Proven effective in year-long pilots conducted by four National Sport Organizations
• Formally evaluated by the University of Toronto
• Practical and actionable
• Readily adaptable for different contexts and applications
• Free for download!

Visit https://coach.ca/female-coach-mentorship-model to download your copy of the resources.

Canadian Women & Sport and the CAC are grateful to the expert advisors who guided the development of the Female Coach Mentorship Model, to the University of Toronto, and to Basketball Canada, Hockey Canada, Tennis Canada and Wrestling Canada for partnering on this project. The Female Coach Mentorship Model was made possible with funding from Status of Women Canada.

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In February of 2021, Canadian Women & Sport held a panel discussion with sport leaders who have taken part in our Gender Equity Playbook program as they share key factors that helped them create change.

Here are a few key insights from Consuelo Zayas, Chief Financial Officer, Alpine Canada; June Sterling, Project Coordinator, Baseball Canada; Julie Gosselin, Vice President, Baseball Québec; and Richard Way, Chief Executive Officer, Sport for Life Society. In our conversation, these panelists shared what they learned in their assessment experience, including how they built the right team to tackle gender equity challenges, worked to change the culture of their sport, and collaborated with other organizations to increase their success.

*This transcript has been edited for flow and clarity.

Greer Gemin (GG): What we have heard repeatedly is that implementing gender equity needs to be a collaborative process. Who needs to be involved in this process to make sure these initiatives are successful? 

Julie Gosselin (JG): Collaboration is key. I am not saying that because we are a team sport, but that is why we have had success. We changed the narrative at Baseball Quebec when we started discussing gender equity as a key priority directly at the board level first. So that was really the board that decided that this would be a priority for us and then everything we do will be included to think about.

Then we went to what we call the president commission – so the president of each of our regions – and then bring in all our employees, both in regional and local associations. So, it was really a step-by-step approach but, I will never forget the moment we were in one room and all the presidents raised their hands to say they will commit to the plan, and they will act on it.

The step-by-step approach was really to make sure we had everyone on board, asking questions, making sure it was clear for them on how we can succeed to change the culture in a structured way. We set clear ambitions and goals that everyone had, and we encouraged each other to share our challenges but mostly to challenge the status quo.

GG: What assumptions were challenged through the assessment process with Baseball Canada? 

June Sterling (JS): This is the most important thing we have done so far in this area. Other organizations that I have worked with have just jumped right in, where doing this tool brought to light where you really are in your work. We thought, we have a national women’s team, 50% women in the office and mechanisms for dealing with harassment but at the end of the day, we are not equitable because when we dug deep with this assessment tool*, we found we were just skimming the top of it. It is helped us know that we can go a lot deeper with our work and the interesting thing for me was when I worked on it with our executive director, I always thought he saw things the same as I did, and I was wrong. We see things very differently and that shows me that we have work to do, but we are all willing to do the work.

GG: In our conversation you mentioned that it takes honesty and guts as an organization to say you are not good at something. Why do you think it is important to be honest in this process about where you can improve in building gender equity and diversity in your organization? How can you do this without being defensive or confrontational? 

JG: This is so true. We need to make sure that we are creating a safe environment to speak freely and to trust each other and I think where we were successful in our work with Baseball Canada and the other provinces, was when we completed the assessment. It is easy to answer the questions within the Gender Equity Self-Assessment Tool with things that we would like to do. Or something that we are starting to do. But that is not the point. We are really trying to know what we are doing right now.

So, it takes guts. At the end when you are looking at all the questions, it might not be overly positive, but it is a good thing because we know exactly where we are starting, and it is going to be easier to explain our story.

So, we really need to ask ourselves this hard question. It is not a competition, it is not a task, it is really a reality check. And if you genuinely want to solve the problems and get innovative ideas, you need to be honest and learn from it.

GG: The idea that there should be accessible, inclusive pathways to sport is key to the Sport for Life culture – how did this process of going through the gender equity assessment help you build on that existing work? 

Richard Way (RW): What we have tried to do is support staff in terms of taking training. We are grateful around the Gender Equity Playbook because again it allowed us to have those conversations that Julie talked about. Those conversations helped us to look at the diversity of our organization and allowed us to see where we had gaps and what we needed to address.

We are also fortunate to have very engaged, eager, young staff and their expectations just in how they see the world is more evolved than people who were born in the 50s and 60s. Their expectations are so much more around learning and how they see the world in a much more balanced way. So, it is not a re-training but an opportunity to understand more and in doing that allows us as to empower at all levels of the organization. It must be engaged at all levels of the organization. In terms of the passion of our younger staff and then that feeding right up to where there is a commitment at the board level to ensure that these things are entrenched organizationally.

GG: You mentioned that Alpine Canada took up this work because you wanted to be more representative of the community you serve. Can you talk about why that is so important and the risks that exist when an organization does not represent their community? 

Consuelo Zayas (CZ): The Federal Government set a standard for the nation when a gender balanced cabinet was introduced for the first time in Canadian history in 2015 and the reason provided was “Because it’s 2015”.  It is now 2021 and the reasoning still stands as women represent 50% of the population and have earned the right to be represented at every level.

Additionally, exclusivity is a financial risk. Organizations that do not represent the communities that we are trying to inspire will become obsolete. Funding partners seek out organizations that are aligned with the community and that reflect their own values and that means having an inclusive culture and organizational structure that considers diversity in all aspects of the organization. Diversity is about diversity of thought which is what gives an organization the resilience to meet challenges and grow with the community.

*The assessment tool referenced is the Gender Equity Self-Assessment Tool.

Panelist Bios 

Julie Gosselin, ASC. C.Dir., Vice President, Baseball Québec 

Julie Gosselin is Assistant Vice President, Advisor Sales Support, at Sun Life. She is the first woman to be appointed president of Sports Québec, she is also vice-president of Baseball Québec and, a member of Baseball Canada Gender Equity committee. She completed the University Certification in Corporate Governance from the Collège des administrateurs de sociétés (CAS) to become an ASC and Chartered Director (C.Dir.) from The Directors College. Prior to joining Sun Life, Julie worked at RDS and participated in the broadcasting of the Olympic Games in Vancouver and London.

June Sterling, Project Coordinator, Baseball Canada 

June Sterling comes from a family of four girls, raised by a mom who never had the opportunities to realize her worth. She took on the persona of a “tom boy” in hopes of being taken seriously and embraced things like sports and fitness. After making a career switch to chase her dream of working in the sport world, she landed in her current role as Project Coordinator and Safe Sport Liaison for Baseball Canada. She works hard for equality in sport, but other professional areas as well, to pave the way for future generations, and works to bring gender, equity, and diversity to baseball. One of her proudest accomplishments is raising her daughter to be a strong woman. 

Richard Way, Chief Executive Officer, Sport for Life Society 

Richard is the CEO of the Sport for Life Society and an architect of the Long-Term Athlete Development Framework. Richard has facilitated the use of Long-Term Development in Sport and Physical Activity for over 60 sports in more than 100 countries, and co-authored the book, Long-Term Athlete Development, with Istvan Balyi and Dr. Colin Higgs. Throughout his career, Richard has been an innovative leader, a catalyst for advancing quality sport and developing physical literacy; throughout the course of his career, he has contributed to more than 100 resources on sport and physical literacy development.  

Consuelo Zayas, Chief Financial Officer, Alpine Canada 

Consuelo Zayas is an accountant with 20 years’ experience managing accounting and human resource teams.  She is proud to be the first African Canadian to hold the lead finance management role in every organization in which she has worked and thrives when building and leading a dynamic team environment focused on achieving key organizational goals. As CFO at Alpine Canada Alpin, Consuelo applies her technical expertise and experience in making Canada’s national ski team a best-in-class National Sports Organization. 

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Join us for a conversation with sport leaders who have taken part in our Gender Equity Playbook Program as they share key factors that helped them create change.

Sport organizations face complicated challenges in trying to make their sports more inclusive to women and girls. If you’re a sport organization struggling to create change, you’re not alone!

For the last year, Canadian Women & Sport has been supporting sport organizations to understand their own gender equity opportunities and develop action plans through our Gender Equity Playbook program.

Join Canadian Women & Sport for a conversation with sport leaders who have gone through our Gender Equity in Sport Assessment with their organizations. Our panelists will share what they learned in their assessment experience, including how they built the right team to tackle gender equity challenges, worked to change the culture of their sport, and collaborated with other organizations to increase their success.  

Our panel will include:

• Consuelo Zayas, Chief Financial Officer, Alpine Canada
• June Sterling, Project Coordinator, Baseball Canada
• Julie Gosselin, Vice President, Baseball Québec
• Richard Way, Chief Executive Officer, Sport for Life Society

Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions of each of our panelists. Visit our website to learn more about the Gender Equity Playbook.

This event will be hosted primarily in English with bilingual (English and French) slides. Please log in to the Eventbrite account you used to secure your ticket and go to the event page to view the panel when it is live.

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This tool was developed thanks to funding from the Government of Ontario.

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In February, as part of the Red Deer Declaration, the federal, provincial and territorial Ministers responsible for sport committed in principle to developing a “strategy tailored to their own jurisdiction so that boards of directors of funded sport organizations reach [gender] parity by December 2024.” (Conference of Federal-Provincial-Territorial Ministers Responsible for Sport, Physical Activity and Recreation, 2019).

Within the Canadian sport sector, Triathlon New Brunswick, Ontario Soccer, and Curling Canada are three organizations that have implemented board gender equity into their governance documents. As national and provincial/territorial sport organizations move forward in creating gender equity action plans, these organizations provide examples of practices that can be adapted and implemented to suit individual contexts.

The post Gender Equity is Good Governance – Lessons from the Sport Sector appeared first on Canadian Women & Sport.

The Need:

Whether we realize it or not, each of us looks at the world differently, through lenses that shape our perceptions, attitudes, and actions. Our lenses may include biases that impact how we move through the world, make decisions and build systems. Women and girls are underrepresented in sport partly because of a sport system that has been created without consideration for their needs.

The Solution:

The Gender Equity LENS framework is a four-step process developed to help sport leaders make more equitable decisions by taking stock of relevant issues and barriers, challenging assumptions, prioritizing ideas, and making an action plan for equity. This e-learning module is for everyone who has a role to play in making sport more inclusive for girls and women.

Through the Gender Equity LENS, sport leaders will:

• build an understanding of key equity and inclusion concepts, including gender, intersectionality, and unconscious bias;
• learn how embracing gender equity can make sport better for everyone;
• learn how to apply our LENS framework to ask the right questions and challenge assumptions that keep equity out of reach; and,
• learn how to create sport environments that support women and girls to participate and lead in sport over the long term.

The Impact:

The Gender Equity LENS e-learning module gives sport leaders the information and tools they need to act on their commitment to inclusion and make policy and program decisions that better serve women and girls in sport. In a recent survey, 98% of participants felt that the information and skills they learned through the Gender Equity LENS were valuable to their work.

Participants also reported feeling empowered to:

• Use the LENS tools to frame organizational change;
• Apply the Gender Equity LENS approach to governance structures;
• Seek different perspectives in decision making;
• Plan for diversity in materials and develop a review process with a diverse panel; and,
• Review employee handbooks and job postings through a gender lens.

“Taking steps to address gender equity doesn’t have to be overwhelming – it’s about identifying areas where you can make changes, setting your focus, and developing and implementing a plan – continuous improvement and learning!”

Program Participant

Contact us to learn how you can purchase a set of access codes for your organization.

Participants will receive two NCCP professional development points upon completion of the Gender Equity LENS e-learning module (for people registered with The Locker through the Coaching Association of Canada).

Have you taken the Gender Equity LENS training?  See our guidance on how to maximize the impact of online diversity and inclusion training!

This project has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.

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This tool was developed thanks to funding from the Government of Ontario.

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By completing this assessment, you will:

• Learn more about best practices for achieving gender equity,
• Establish a baseline for your organization,
• Learn where you have strengths, and where you have opportunities to grow,
• Identify where you might wish to set priorities and strategies for advancing gender equity.

Reach out to Canadian Women and Sport to get more tools and resources for supporting you in your journey towards gender equity.

Contact us at [email protected].

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