December Newsletter: Our Favourite Moments for Girls, Women and Gender-Diverse People in Sport in 2022

A Look Back at 2022

From safe sport and gender equity, to professional women’s sport announcements and COVID-19 recovery, 2022 was a huge year for girls, women and gender-diverse people in sport. The lows have been low, but the highs have been exceptionally high. While we still have a long way to go, more and more people are doing the hard work to make sport a safe, equitable place for everyone.

As the year comes to an end, we’re taking a look back at some of our favourite moments from Canadian girls, women and gender-diverse people in sport in 2022. The good news is that there were so many exceptional moments worth celebrating that we can’t possibly list them all.

What’s your 2022 highlight? Let us know on Twitter @womenandsportca

Some of Our Favourite Moments for Girls, Women and Gender-Diverse People in Sport in 2022

• Canada beats the United States 3-2 in the gold medal women’s hockey game at the Bejing Olympics.
• Pitcher Jaida Lee, at 16 years old, is the first female to compete in Men’s Baseball at 2022 Canada Summer Games.
• Canada’s Summer McIntosh defeats Katie Ledecky, the greatest distance swimmer in history, in the women’s 400m freestyle with a time of 3:52:80 at the FINA World Cup.
• Hockey player Marie-Philip Poulin wins the 2022 Northern Star Award as Canada’s Athlete of the Year.
• Christine Sinclair and Diana Matheson announce Canadian women’s pro soccer league for 2025.

Canadian Women & Sport 2022 Highlights

• We celebrated 15 years of the Women & Leadership program.
• We were named as a Community Sport for All Initiative recipient and launched the Spotlight Grant bringing $1.7M to community sport and physical activity organizations who are working to remove barriers and expand opportunities for girls, women, and gender-diverse participants.
• Our CEO Allison Sandmeyer-Graves spoke at the Committee on the Status of Women on the importance of safe sport.
• We launched the Commercial Women’s Sport Initiative, with Premier National Partner Canadian Tire Corporation.
• Alongside the Canadian Sport Institute Atlantic, we hosted the Nova Scotia Roadshow.
• In partnership with Jumpstart Charities, we released the 2022 Rally Report.

Canadian Women & Sport 2022 Highlights

• Skate Canada updates its policies so that ice dance or pairs teams competing domestically can be composed of any two athletes.
• Wimbledon updates its white clothing policy to allow female athletes to wear dark-coloured undershorts.
• Team Canada wins bronze at World Gymnastics Championships and secures their spot at Paris 2024.
• Canadian long-distance runner Natasha Wodak smashes the Canadian Women’s Marathon Record in Berlin finishing 12th with a time of 2:23:12.
• 12-year-old Lucy Lin from Vancouver becomes the youngest player to qualify for the CP Women’s Open.
• Golfer Brooke Henderson wins the Amundi Evian Championship.
• Camryn Rogers becomes the first Canadian woman to win a medal in a field event at Worlds, earning a silver in the women’s hammer throw.
• Canada Women’s National Soccer Team secures their spot at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup with a 1-0 win over Panama.
• Penny Oleksiak becomes the most decorated Canadian swimmer at the FINA World Championships with nine medals.
• Canada’s Sophie Bukovec and Brandie Wilkderson win silver at the Beach Volleyball World Championships.
• Kori Cheverie becomes the first woman to coach a Canadian Men’s National Hockey Team.
• Women’s Para Hockey of Canada issues an open letter to Corporate Canada and launched “Sticks In”, a campaign to raise $1 million from the corporate community to fully fund the Women’s National Para Hockey Program for the first time in history.
• The Government of Canada invests $25.3M in gender equity in sport.

What’s your 2022 highlight? Let us know on Twitter @womenandsportca

Read the 2022 Rally Report

The Rally Report details how 4,500 Canadian girls and women, and over 350 women sport leaders, experience sport in 2022. The message couldn’t be clearer: our current sport system is failing to provide girls and women with access to safe, quality sport as participants and as leaders.

Learn more and download the Rally Report here.

News From the Community

Saskatchewan Polytechnic Seeks Sport Management Instructor

Saskatchewan Polytechnic has recently announced the launch of a new sport management specialty in its Business Diploma program and is currently recruiting a Sport Management Instructor. You can find the job posting online at Saskpolytech.ca. For more information about the new sport management specialty, see the media release on the Saskatchewan Polytechnic website.

Muslimah Athletic Club Seeks Ice Time and Coaches

Muslimah Athletic Club is a community organization that supports BIPOC, Muslim women and girls in sports. They are currently looking for accessible ice time for their hockey development program in the Don Valley east region, as well as coaches for their hockey league. To learn more please contact muslimahathleticclub@gmail.com.

Have a gender equity initiative you want to share? Click here.

Thanks for reading!