Sports aren’t created equal, says Coquitlam councillor
Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart, left, and Coun. Selina Robinson, right.
Email
Print
Letter to Editor
Share
Updated: October 06, 2009 2:50 PM
A Coquitlam councillor said she is concerned the municipality has not achieved a proper balance between males in females participating in sports.
Coun. Selina Robinson voiced her concerns Monday while the recreation, sports and culture committee discussed a report about changing a grant previously used to increase gender equity in sports.
The city will now dole out the $50,000 in $5,000 instalments to all youth sports organizations, with an emphasis on initiatives that will attract young people to recreational activities.
“I really don’t believe that we don’t have gender equity,” she said during the committee meeting.
She pointed to an email she received from a coach in the North Coquitlam United Soccer Club that said 614 boys were involved in the organization compared to 318 girls.
Robinson told The Tri-City News that while she supports the report, she would like to see evidence that there is a balanced number of males and females involved in local athletics.
“If we have gender equity, we need the evidence,” she said. “We need to make evidence-based decisions. If we are going to do something, I want to see the outcomes.”
Not all councillors shared Robinson’s concerns.
Coun. Mae Reid said Robinson was not taking into account sports that are dominated by females.
“You can’t force girls to play soccer or play hockey or any of those sports,” Reid said.
Mayor Richard Stewart concurred with Reid, adding that anecdotal numbers do not paint a full picture. He said it is just as likely there are imbalances in some sports where there are not enough males participating.
“If you want to point at some disparities, we are going to see them in both directions,” Stewart said. “The goal of [the gender equity grant] was to remove any structural inequality between sports that are predominantly male and sponsored by the city and sports that are predominantly female that might not be.”
The committee voted in favour of sending the report to council.
gmckenna@tricitynews.com
v2
