Two parents whose children play in the CMHA have filed a formal complaint against the association with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, alleging gender discrimination. At issue is the CMHA’s recently instituted policy of levying a surcharge against players on girls’ teams. Members of boys’ or coed teams are not charged the extra fee.
The CMHA — whose league fees are structured on a per-player, not per-team, basis — has presented the policy as a simple business decision, citing the smaller rosters on girls’ teams which bring in less revenue per team. Its response to the lower rates of participation by girls is to increase the cost of participating.
The legal complaint will be decided via mediation or a hearing; resulting orders are enforceable in the B.C. Supreme Court. Whatever the outcome, the case has drawn attention to the place of women in hockey.
The state of women’s hockey last made news in 2010 when IOC president Jacques Rogge threatened to cut the sport from the Winter Olympics, setting a festive tone just hours before the gold medal game. Underdeveloped programs in every country except Canada and the U.S. result in lopsided games and a two-horse race in every international tournament.
Even within the two nations that dominate women’s hockey, participation by female players lags far behind their male counterparts. Despite what Hockey Canada describes as “exponential growth” in women’s hockey since the first World Women’s Championship in 1990, male players registered with the organization outnumbered females almost 6 to 1 in 2008-2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available. In the nation’s capital, male registration in the Ottawa District Hockey Association outnumbered female registration nearly 24 to 1.
With 2012 marking the 40th anniversary of Title IX, the landmark and controversial U.S. federal law best known for mandating gender equality in college sports participation, celebration of progress achieved must be tempered with awareness of work yet to be done.
If you ask an NHL player about his love for the game, he might tell you that he loves it so much he would play for free.
The women love it so much they pay for the right to play.
“Things are getting better,” said Lisa-Marie Breton-Lebreux, the Stars’ captain and a driving force behind the creation of the league in 2007. “Last year, everyone on the team had to pay $1,000 to play. We have some sponsors and the crowds are a little better, so we don’t have to pay this season.”
But it’s still not free. While Bauer has supplied equipment to the players, they still pay for their sticks and they’re on the hook for their meals on the team’s seven road trips.
At least the Stars’ championship season was rewarded with a free meal and a suite at the Bell Centre when they were later honored at a Canadiens home game (though the food probably came at the price of witnessing Scott Gomez’s painfully futile efforts on the ice).
It’s been 20 years since groundbreaking goalie Manon Rheaume, the Geraldine Ferraro of hockey, signed a professional contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1992.
Hockey’s Hillary Rodham Clinton has yet to emerge: no woman has repeated Rheaume’s feat. But the next one may be lacing up her skates at a rink near you.
Covering the Puck 
Reading the Play: Cracking the Ice Ceiling
Posted: July 14, 2012 | Author: Covering the Puck | Filed under: Reading the Play (Commentary) |Comments Off on Reading the Play: Cracking the Ice CeilingJuly 14, 2012
The Chilliwack Progress reported yesterday on a “headache” facing the Chilliwack Minor Hockey Association (CMHA).
The Progress, of course, is Chilliwack’s 120-year-old “newspaper of record,” and Chilliwack, for the uninitiated, is a city of 80,000 located east of Vancouver which prominently features a large ear of corn on its official website.
Two parents whose children play in the CMHA have filed a formal complaint against the association with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, alleging gender discrimination. At issue is the CMHA’s recently instituted policy of levying a surcharge against players on girls’ teams. Members of boys’ or coed teams are not charged the extra fee.
The CMHA — whose league fees are structured on a per-player, not per-team, basis — has presented the policy as a simple business decision, citing the smaller rosters on girls’ teams which bring in less revenue per team. Its response to the lower rates of participation by girls is to increase the cost of participating.
The legal complaint will be decided via mediation or a hearing; resulting orders are enforceable in the B.C. Supreme Court. Whatever the outcome, the case has drawn attention to the place of women in hockey.
The state of women’s hockey last made news in 2010 when IOC president Jacques Rogge threatened to cut the sport from the Winter Olympics, setting a festive tone just hours before the gold medal game. Underdeveloped programs in every country except Canada and the U.S. result in lopsided games and a two-horse race in every international tournament.
Even within the two nations that dominate women’s hockey, participation by female players lags far behind their male counterparts. Despite what Hockey Canada describes as “exponential growth” in women’s hockey since the first World Women’s Championship in 1990, male players registered with the organization outnumbered females almost 6 to 1 in 2008-2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available. In the nation’s capital, male registration in the Ottawa District Hockey Association outnumbered female registration nearly 24 to 1.
With 2012 marking the 40th anniversary of Title IX, the landmark and controversial U.S. federal law best known for mandating gender equality in college sports participation, celebration of progress achieved must be tempered with awareness of work yet to be done.
This March The Gazette, native to hockey hotbed Montreal, examined the hockey lives of the Clarkson Cup-winning Montreal Stars, this year’s champions of the five-year-old, five-team Canadian Women’s Hockey League. The NHL recently raised its salary cap to $70.2 million for the upcoming season; meanwhile, players’ salaries in the CWHL jumped from negative $1000 to $0 minus the cost of food and sticks:
At least the Stars’ championship season was rewarded with a free meal and a suite at the Bell Centre when they were later honored at a Canadiens home game (though the food probably came at the price of witnessing Scott Gomez’s painfully futile efforts on the ice).
It’s been 20 years since groundbreaking goalie Manon Rheaume, the Geraldine Ferraro of hockey, signed a professional contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1992.
Hockey’s Hillary Rodham Clinton has yet to emerge: no woman has repeated Rheaume’s feat. But the next one may be lacing up her skates at a rink near you.
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