Canadian Women & Sport Launching Gender Equity Assessment Tool and Action Planning Service

Canadian Women & Sport is pleased to announce that the Gender Equity Playbook (The Playbook) is now available to the Canadian sport sector.

The Playbook, a new initiative from Canadian Women & Sport, is a three-part program designed to help sport leaders strengthen their organizations by making more equitable decisions. The Playbook was developed in collaboration with globally-recognized diversity and sport management experts.

Eighty-nine percent of national sport organizations in Canada believe gender equity is either essential or very important to their organization, but many are unsure where they stand or what to prioritize to create meaningful and lasting change. The Playbook helps organizations transform good intentions into tangible action.

The Playbook program includes:

• The Gender Equity LENS e-learning module, a self-directed program that helps individuals build their understanding of key equity, diversity and inclusion concepts and how to apply them in their day to day decisions;
• The Gender Equity in Sport Assessment, a comprehensive and collaborative process developed with Ryerson’s Diversity Institute that identifies areas of strength and opportunity as well as best practices in gender equity, diversity and inclusion for your organization; and,
• The Gender Equity Action Planning consultation service, which includes hands-on, customized support to develop an action plan that addresses the most pressing priorities identified in the assessment report.

Canadian Women & Sport partnered with a research team led by Dr. Wendy Cukier, founder of Ryerson University’s Diversity Institute supported by Dr. Cheri Bradish, founder of the Future of Sport Lab, to develop the Gender Equity in Sport Assessment Tool based on the Diversity Institute’s proven Diversity Assessment Tool.

“The Playbook is designed to meet sport organizations where they are and give them the tools to identify steps forward, responding to conclusions from the assessment and best practices identified by the Diversity Institute,” said Allison Sandmeyer-Graves, CEO, Canadian Women & Sport. “With input from our pilot organizations and the expertise of Dr. Wendy Cukier and Dr. Cheri Bradish, we’ve developed a process that will be truly effective for sport organizations looking for relevant, evidence-based solutions to increase equity.”

“We were delighted to partner with Canadian Women & Sport in adapting and applying our Diversity Assessment Tool to Canadian National Sport Organizations and are encouraged by the pilot program results,” said Cukier, founder of the Diversity Institute. “Diverse Olympians and professional athletes across disciplines have been at the forefront of pushing change to advance human rights, gender equality and diversity. Yet the sector as a whole still presents many barriers to women and other diverse athletes as participants and leaders.”

Bradish, founder of the Future of Sport Lab, added, “we look forward to continued collaboration with Canadian Women & Sport and the opportunities to expand our work through Canadian sport to support and advance diversity and inclusion.” 

Six national and multisport organizations have now completed the Playbook as part of our pilot program. We are grateful to Alpine Canada, Athletics Canada, Baseball Canada, Canada Snowboard, Rowing Canada, and Sport for Life for their support and feedback.

Our Gender Equity Playbook team can facilitate these sessions both in person and virtually. To start building your organization’s Gender Equity Playbook, contact Holly Abraham, Program Manager, at Holly.Abraham@womenandsport.ca.

We are grateful to Sport Canada for their support of the Gender Equity Playbook.

About Canadian Women & Sport

Canadian Women & Sport is dedicated to creating an equitable and inclusive Canadian sport and physical activity system that empowers girls and women—as active participants and leaders—within and through sport. With a focus on systemic change, we partner with sport organizations, governments, and leaders to challenge the status quo and build better sport through gender equity.

Ryerson Diversity Institute

Founded in 1999, the Diversity Institute at Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Management conducts and coordinates multi-disciplinary, multi-stakeholder research to address the needs of diverse Canadians, the changing nature of skills and competencies, and the knowledge of the complex barriers faced by underrepresented groups, leading practices to effect change, and producing concrete results. It leads the Women’s Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub and a stream of research for the Future Skills Centre. It has been collecting and reporting on Diversity on Boards for more than a decade and collaborates on a wide range of skills development, leadership and entrepreneurship programs.

For media interested in speaking to Ryerson team, please contact: Kathleen Powderley, Responsible Communications, 416-803-5597, kathleen@responsiblecomm.ca