On Friday October 5, The Phoenix had the privilege of speaking with the Director of HEAT Athletics and Recreation Operations, Layne McDougall. The discussion surrounded the ongoing conversation that is women’s sports, to see where the institution stands on the unfair societal system rooted in patriarchal ideas that men’s sports are more worthy of viewership than their women counterparts.
Layne refrained from commenting on the social attitudes surrounding sports, but rather focused on the fact that UBCO’s most successful programs are the women’s programs. She added that UBCO’s women’s golf and softball have been early standouts this season. Layne also denied any difference in treatment between the men’s and women’s sports teams, saying that both teams are marketed equitably, and therefore should be celebrated evenly. To close the interview, Layne stated:
“I would say that there isn’t an unfairness in women’s sport in HEAT athletics, and we approach all of our men’s and women’s programs equitably… Equity does not necessarily mean that every single game or even every week will look exactly the same, but [rather] when you look at each opportunity and the resources and decision making framework, over a period of time.”
While Layne provided solid reassurance of our women’s internal programming here at UBCO, the fact is that despite the same marketing support, our two gender teams are not in fact celebrated evenly. Women’s games draw smaller crowds and the reasons for this are not Layne’s, nor the institution’s fault, but instead an unfair societal norm that, over time, has been accepted. While it’s appreciated that the HEAT makes an effort, it seems that a gender balance has not been reached on all levels.
Coincidentally, on October 1, the University of Calgary launched an initiative to support their own Women’s sports programming. They teamed up with Calgary-based clothing company, Local Laundry, to create a promotional T-shirt in which $10 from every shirt sold (more than one quarter of the cost of a shirt) goes directly into the Dinos Women Student-Athlete Award Fund. The fund works to distribute scholarship dollars and awards to female athletes in order to achieve a 50/50 distribution ratio.
Development Coordinator for the faculty of Kinesiology, Sydney Tait, enthusiastically shared details of the initiative and how they are showing women’s sports support at the U of C. The T-shirt was designed by a former female Dinos Track Athlete, Sienna Macdonald, who had excelled at the heptathlon. After winning a previous T-shirt design competition, the Dinos media team knew who they needed on this project. The shirt campaign was well received by the current Dinos, having the athletes involved with media days a part of the launch, and having another alumni, Emily Yamaguchi-Kuan, a former women’s soccer player, make the launch video for the campaign.
Sydney explained that this initiative was created to help make women’s sports a priority at the U of C. In 2022, the University of Calgary had gotten a large gift from Joan Snyder, an Albertan philanthropist who had passed away. Joan had asked that with the $67.5 million she would leave them, that women’s sports teams at the U of C be supported however they need to be. The money has been put into extensive research on the athletic impact on women’s bodies, scholarship dollars for the Dinos, and establishing the Joan Snyder Fund for Excellence in Kinesiology, which has kickstarted many research campaigns since its inception in 2022.
Sydney says that in order to keep Snyder’s gift for as long as possible, the U of C wants to continue these campaigns to raise scholarship dollars, fund research opportunities, and foster the academic growth of their female athletes. Her partner, and the Events Manager at Dino Athletics, Marinya Marcichiw, has been working hard to try to incentivize the U of C community to come to women’s games, by having special promotional nights, and days that specifically celebrate women in sports. When asked what we as a community can help our female athletes feel our support, Sydney kept it simple, suggesting:
“Just showing up is huge. If you cannot afford to buy a T-shirt, it does not cost anything to simply show your support at a game.”
So while it may be that institutions equally support their men’s and women’s sports teams, it appears that equality cannot mean equal treatment. To Layne’s point, not every game will look the same, simply because they cannot if they are supported to the same degree. That said, men’s sports have had the spotlight for centuries, so our women’s teams need extra visibility to have their moment as well.
So while UBCO does not have the same outreach initiatives as the U of C, you can still make a difference in visibility for women’s sports in your own community. It’s as simple as supporting your favourite teams, but go to both women’s and men’s games, if possible. More specifically, make sure to watch your women’s basketball team’s home opener on Oct 30 at 5 PM, and stick around for the men to play at 7 PM. Our HEAT needs energy to keep lighting up, so come watch them BURN BLUE!
