Gender Inequality – In So Many Words…
On the George Stroumboulopoulos Show, this week, @Strombo referenced some statistics, regarding Gender Equity and Equality in Canada.
Talking about how we were behind progressive Nordic Countries like Norway and Sweden… but also some Third World Countries.
I Googled: “Canada Lags+Gender” and got this Globe & Mail report, which, in part, talks about:
– Earnings gap in Canada being estimated at $28.3 K for Canadian Women , compared to $40 K for Men.
– Women comprise 50% of the population, but only 22% of Canadian Members of Parliament.
There are many other stats that support the point of view that Canada, as a society “devalues” Women.
Perhaps not as much as Pakistan or Afghanistan… but enough that we are not anywhere close to being a world leader.
As I thought about this, my mind suddenly flashed to a short but brilliant Blog Post I had come across during the summer.
I thought I had bookmarked it, but I couldn’t find it… so I started searching… and searching… and finally coming up with it.
It was a brilliant piece, written by Alix Wright on CanucksHockeyBlog.com
Off Season Thoughts: Gender Insults in Hockey
I’ve been thinking on this for a while and the off season seems a good a time as any to raise it. It infuriates me that hockey players are so frequently tagged with the “women” insult. Hank and Danny get called the Sedin sisters by rival fans. Sidney Crosby gets called Cindy Crosby or terms for female anatomy when he dives or complains to the refs. WHY? Why is that an insult? Why is it still OK to stereotype a woman as weak or whiny or emotional? I feel the same way about how gay insults are thrown around but that could be saved for a whole new post. I know the hockey world can be an old boy’s club in many ways but it’s juvenile and unoriginal and frankly I think hockey fans can be better than this. Hockey as a whole can be better than this.
I can’t remember the specifics, and again, I can’t find a record of it… but in my own experience, I have written e-mails to CKNW after Neil McRae made repeated remarks on air, drawing a parallel between NHL players and feminized names, in one instance… (Cindy Crosby… Sedin sisters) …and in another instance to a TV Station (I think it was SportsNet Pacific) after John Garrett literally showed an NHL playoff goal, and then played a clip of a Women’s World Cup Hockey goal, and made a disparaging remark about how the level of intensity in the NHL was not reflective of the level of skill in Women’s Hockey.
I wrote e-mails to both. Neither offered me the courtesy of a reply. apparently neither felt it was inappropriate.
Hockey is Canada’s Game.
It is one of the Tent Poles of our Society, by which we stake our International Reputation.
We are one of the best places in the World to live, according to many reports.
Why is it acceptable to subjugate and diminish 50 % of our population… or worse, to use that 50% as an insult ?
I agree with Alix… We are SO much better than this.
BOB – so essential, thanks for standing up for gender equality. Time for all the fans to be respected regardless of gender. I have been a hockey fan since I was 4 years old – talk to my family before every game and I am tired of the “sisters” trash talk. Enough insulting women; it’s time for some of the ‘slaggers’ to grow up and join the rest of us in the 21st Century. So everyone join the campaign #bansisterslag!