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TOOLKIT

Gender Equity in Recreational Sport: Optimizing Facility Use

All Resources

The resources in this section reflect the four different areas of focus of this project. Beyond those, we have added resources that provide general information about the topic of gender equity as well as resources that address the issue of leadership for women in recreation and sport.

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W.M. Sobey Indoor Sports Complex Allocation Project Final Report
W.M. Sobey Indoor Sports Complex Allocation Project Final Report

Highland District Soccer Association (HDSA), owner and manager of the W. M Sobeys Indoor Sports Complex, identified that the Complex could benefit from developing a formal facility allocation policy to establish a transparent and consistent method to allocate facility time to user groups.

general-resourcereport
Strong and Free
Strong and Free

Our girls are watching us. Our nieces, cousins, sisters, neighbours, daughters. If we don’t show them what they’re capable of, who will?

general-resourcevideo
Community parasport – The experiences of female youth
Community parasport – The experiences of female youth

Without strong development pathways, young Canadians may not have the opportunity to pursue their dreams. An important first step along any development pathway is a positive introduction to sport through grassroots community programs.

general-resourcearticle
Give Inclusivity a Sporting Chance by designing better recreational spaces
Give Inclusivity a Sporting Chance by designing better recreational spaces

By taking a full sustainability lens to our designs at the beginning of the process, we can support better equity, health, and climate resilience for future communities, making our spaces better for everyone.

facility-designarticle
Equity Language Guide
Equity Language Guide

NRPA’s Equity Language Guide is a glossary of terms to help park and recreation professionals develop a common language around diversity, equity and inclusion.

general-resourceguide
Hijabi Ballers toolkit
Hijabi Ballers toolkit

This resource is designed to provide tips for coaches, sports clubs and athletes on how to include Muslim Females in the athletic space.

general-resourcetoolkit
Sexism in the Playground. Why making space for girls matters
Sexism in the Playground. Why making space for girls matters

Some experts say the design of many playgrounds is sexist, as much more space is devoted to boys, who tend to play sports more than girls.

organizational-culturearticle
Rally Report 2022
Rally Report 2022

Sport has the power to unite and inspire us. For girls, women and gender-diverse people, sport can be transformative, but only when they have equitable opportunities to engage in quality, safe sport.

general-resourcereport
What would a city designed by women be like?
What would a city designed by women be like?

Cities are supposed to be built for all of us, but they aren’t built by all of us. We spoke to feminists working in urban planning in the city to find out what they think needs to change to make cities better for women.

facility-designvideo
In Her Words
In Her Words

In Her Words is a novel project that explored the physical activity and recreational sport experiences of mothers with disabilities – for their own health and well-being, and as mentors to their school-aged daughters (9-15 years).

general-resourcereport
Safer Parks Project
Safer Parks Project

Visiting parks is an integral part of everyday life, reflecting the vital social, health and recreational role parks play in towns and cities. Parks have numerous benefits for health and wellbeing yet concerns about safety can constrain women and girls’ use and experience of them.

facility-designdocument
Designing Interventions to Address Complex Societal Issues
Designing Interventions to Address Complex Societal Issues

It’s an outline about both the problem of the lack of facilities for teenage girls in parks, and also some studies of best practice in how to co-produce solutions.

general-resourcearticle
Are you afraid of the dark T.O?
Are you afraid of the dark T.O?

Are You Afraid of the Dark T.O? is a temporary public outdoor installation for young women and girls that will use unique seating arrangements and LED lighting to improve perceptions of safety at night and encourage after-dark use.

organizational-culturetoolkit
Safer Parks Standard
Safer Parks Standard

This Standard is a set of principles for managing public park spaces in ways that prioritise women and girls’ safety.

facility-designinfographic
Gender Based Design
Gender Based Design

What does a #city look like from Her perspective? How can designs/plans respond to a #woman’s experience?

facility-designarticle
Sport England: Guide to Research
Sport England: Guide to Research

Whatever your goal, this guide is designed to help you to decide where research can be useful for your organisation, and provide guidance around how to select the best approach.

general-resourceguide
What could public spaces designed by girls look like?
What could public spaces designed by girls look like?

The single best way to create a park which works for teenage girls is to talk to them. Find out how they use the park, how it makes them feel, and what would make it more attractive for them.

general-resourcearticle
How can we design cities for women?
How can we design cities for women?

Urban planners have been melding mainstreaming and city design in Vienna for over two decades and they’ve gotten it down to something of a science.

general-resourcearticle
Helping women say “yes” to golf
Helping women say “yes” to golf

In this blog, Lindsay Knowlton offers strategies and tips, based on research and her own experiences, to help golf clubs and organizations create inclusive, welcoming environments that help women say “yes” to golf.

organizational-culturearticle
SIRC – Gender Equity in Canadian Sport
SIRC – Gender Equity in Canadian Sport

The active engagement of girls and women as participants and leaders will enhance the Canadian sport and physical activity system for everyone.

general-resourcetoolkit
Girls and outdoor play: looking for more equality and equity
Girls and outdoor play: looking for more equality and equity

This article is an overview of the relationships between boys and girls in public space. Based on an extensive literature review and own research we look at the causes of this gender inequality as well at the possible solutions.

organizational-culturearticle
What is Intersectionality?
What is Intersectionality?

Intersectionality is a concept that can help policy makers and sport programmers understand how different types of discrimination – like racism, homophobia, and ableism – combine to prevent some women and girls from participating in sport.

organizational-culturearticle
What Works? Promising Practices for the Inclusion of Women and Girls From Participation to Leadership
What Works? Promising Practices for the Inclusion of Women and Girls From Participation to Leadership

Effective strategies and interventions are required in order to meet Sport Canada’s goal of equity for girls and women in sport by 2035.

leadershipreport
DisruptHERS – Driving a New Model for Women’s Sport
DisruptHERS – Driving a New Model for Women’s Sport

For decades, scholars and advocates of women’s sport have called for a change in how women’s sport is marketed, sponsored, endorsed, promoted, covered, invested in, capitalized upon, and broadcast.

general-resourcereport
She Belongs: Building Social Connection for Lasting Participation in Sport
She Belongs: Building Social Connection for Lasting Participation in Sport

Through positive sport experiences, girls are more likely to reap the benefits of sport participation and grow into confident and motivated leaders.

organizational-culturedocument
Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace
Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace

These whiteboard animation videos on the 13 factors in the National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace will be a helpful resource for all workplaces in Ottawa. Let’s keep the conversation going about mental health. Each of the videos has a facilitator’s guide to help get the conversation started.

organizational-cultureguide
Understanding Psychosocial Factors and Hazards
Understanding Psychosocial Factors and Hazards

The psychosocial factors described in Guarding Minds are elements that psychologically and/or socially impact the health, safety and well-being of employees, either positively or negatively.

organizational-cultureguide
Questions to help leaders develop a psychologically safe organizational culture
Questions to help leaders develop a psychologically safe organizational culture

Researchers Kelloway and Barling have said that virtually every outcome variable in the field of occupational health psychology is empirically related to organizational leadership.

organizational-culturedocument
Women’s Experiences of Changing in a Public Change Room
Women’s Experiences of Changing in a Public Change Room

In this paper, I argue that everyday spaces such as change rooms and locker rooms are important spaces in which social understandings of the female body manifest.

organizational-culturedocument
Playing for team motherhood: Returning to team sport after childbirth
Playing for team motherhood: Returning to team sport after childbirth

Motherhood and a decrease in physical activity participation often go hand in hand. Specifically, early motherhood is a time when women have some of their lowest rates of sport participation.

organizational-culturearticle
Keeping Girls in Sport
Keeping Girls in Sport

Keeping Girls in Sport was created to help everyone who coaches girls, even parents, understand how girls develop physically, mentally, socially, and emotionally.

general-resourcetoolkit
Creating Inclusive Environments for Trans Participants in Canadian Sport
Creating Inclusive Environments for Trans Participants in Canadian Sport

This document outlines the Expert Working Group’s policy and practice recommendations, and is being made available to Canadian sport organizations to help in their work towards making their sport more inclusive.

organizational-cultureguide
Teens’ dreams of becoming professional athletes: the gender gap in youths’ sports ambitions
Teens’ dreams of becoming professional athletes: the gender gap in youths’ sports ambitions

In comparatively gender equal Norway, most boys and girls participate in sports at about equal rates. This apparent gender equality is investigated further.

general-resourcearticle
Re-thinking Women's Sport Research: Looking in the Mirror and Reflecting Forward
Re-thinking Women’s Sport Research: Looking in the Mirror and Reflecting Forward

Despite decades of research and advocacy, women’s professional sports continue to be considered second class to men’s sports. The goal of this paper is to rethink how we state, present, and solve problems in women’s sport.

general-resourcearticle
Women Leadership in Sport
Women Leadership in Sport

For many talented female candidates, the way they see their own leadership does not match what is presented in front of them in corporate cultures.

leadershipinfographic
Caren Cao goes for a slam dunk with Network Of Women in Basketball
Caren Cao goes for a slam dunk with Network Of Women in Basketball

For lifelong baller Caren Cao, playing in a co-ed basketball league wasn’t much fun. “If it’s a competitive league, men don’t take you seriously,” she says. “If it’s a casual game, they won’t even put in a full effort to guard you.”

community-engagementarticle
Gender sensitive public space? Placemaking and spatial justice through the perspective of gender
Gender sensitive public space? Placemaking and spatial justice through the perspective of gender

Gender Equal Cities, URBACT’s new initiative, seeks to highlight ways in which cities are driving change to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 5: Gender Equality.

facility-designarticle
How women are reclaiming their right to public space in Delhi
How women are reclaiming their right to public space in Delhi

Urban redevelopment in India over recent decades has had particular implications for women. Cities such as New Delhi have become sites for experimentation, autonomy and aspiration for women.

facility-designarticle
#WomenSpatialActivism: Designing for the Re-appropriation of Public Spaces by Women in New Delhi, India
#WomenSpatialActivism: Designing for the Re-appropriation of Public Spaces by Women in New Delhi, India

The proposal is to reclaim women’s right to the city through the recontextualisation of their public spaces which have been lost or need to be developed in urbanised India.

facility-designarticle
Gender Equity Toolkit Workshop Introduction
Gender Equity Toolkit Workshop Introduction

This short video introduces the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association’s four-part webinar series on Gender Equity in Recreational Sport.

general-resourcevideo
COVID Alert — Pandemic Impact on Girls in Sport
COVID Alert — Pandemic Impact on Girls in Sport

COVID-19 has profoundly impacted society and will for years to come. This report is an opportunity to focus on the impact of COVID-19 for girls in sport.

general-resourcereport
Workshop #4 — Who are the People in Your Neighbourhood?
Workshop #4 — Who are the People in Your Neighbourhood?

This workshop will explore non-traditional ways of understanding the community and, specifically, those who do not typically participate in recreation.

community-engagementvideo webinar
Workshop #4 — Who are the People in Your Neighbourhood? (Slide Deck)
Workshop #4 — Who are the People in Your Neighbourhood? (Slide Deck)community-engagementdocument
Workshop #3 — Evaluating Outcomes Using the Best Questions and Data
Workshop #3 — Evaluating Outcomes Using the Best Questions and Data

This workshop will focus on OUTCOME evaluation in general with specific application to gender equity initiatives and understanding the impact of this work.

evaluationvideo webinar
Workshop #3 — Evaluating Outcomes Using the Best Questions and Data (Slide Deck)
Workshop #3 — Evaluating Outcomes Using the Best Questions and Data (Slide Deck)evaluationdocument
Workshop #2 — Understanding How Facility Design Can Support the Use of Facilities by Girls, Women and People of Diverse Gender Identities
Workshop #2 — Understanding How Facility Design Can Support the Use of Facilities by Girls, Women and People of Diverse Gender Identities

This workshop will focus on two basic elements related to gender equity and the design of recreation facilities.

facility-designvideo webinar
Workshop #2 — Understanding How Facility Design Can Support the Use of Facilities by Girls, Women and People of Diverse Gender Identities (Slide Deck)
Workshop #2 — Understanding How Facility Design Can Support the Use of Facilities by Girls, Women and People of Diverse Gender Identities (Slide Deck)facility-designdocument
Workshop #1 — Creating a Strong Culture and Shared Commitment
Workshop #1 — Creating a Strong Culture and Shared Commitment

The workshop focused on three specific topics regarding organizational support for girls, women and gender diverse individuals.

organizational-culturevideo webinar
Workshop #1 — Creating a Strong Culture and Shared Commitment (Slide Deck)
Workshop #1 — Creating a Strong Culture and Shared Commitment (Slide Deck)organizational-culturedocument
Workshop #1 — Creating a Strong Culture and Shared Commitment (Action Planning Worksheet)
Workshop #1 — Creating a Strong Culture and Shared Commitment (Action Planning Worksheet)organizational-cultureguide toolkit
Making Moves for Gender Equity (Ontario Soccer with CAAWS)
Making Moves for Gender Equity (Ontario Soccer with CAAWS)

Want the inside story on Ontario Soccer’s Gender Equity strategy?

leadershipvideo
Supporting Newcomer Girls and Women through Sport (CWS)
Supporting Newcomer Girls and Women through Sport (CWS)

Quality engagement in physical activity can further the integration of newcomer women and girls into their communities and positively impact their overall quality of life.

community-engagementwebinar
Gender Equity and Inclusion Facility Use Assessment (Sport Nova Scotia)
Gender Equity and Inclusion Facility Use Assessment (Sport Nova Scotia)

COMING SOON – A practical tool for organizations to identify strengths and opportunities to promote equity.

facility-designdocument
Female Friendly Sport Infrastructure Guidelines
Female Friendly Sport Infrastructure Guidelines

The guidelines focus on three key enablers: Facility Planning and Design, Maximising Use (i.e., culture, programing, and Policy to Drive Change.

facility-designguide
Designing for Inclusivity: Strategies for Universal Washrooms and Change Rooms on Community and Recreation Facilities (HCMA Architecture and Design)
Designing for Inclusivity: Strategies for Universal Washrooms and Change Rooms on Community and Recreation Facilities (HCMA Architecture and Design)

This document explores the benefits of universal washrooms and change rooms and their provision in community and recreation facilities.

facility-designdocument
Global Insights to Empower and Advance Women and Girls in Sport and Physical Activity (IWG)
Global Insights to Empower and Advance Women and Girls in Sport and Physical Activity (IWG)

Designed to empower and advance gender equity and equality for women and girls in sport and physical activity worldwide.

leadershiptoolkit
National Policy Framework for Girls and Women in Sport 2030 (Queensland, Australia)
National Policy Framework for Girls and Women in Sport 2030 (Queensland, Australia)

This National Policy Framework for Women and Girls in Sport is for the Commonwealth and State/Territory government jurisdictions.

general-resourcedocument
The Leading Edge: Good Practices for Creating Gender-Equitable Boards in Sport
The Leading Edge: Good Practices for Creating Gender-Equitable Boards in Sport

This resource provides sport leaders with information and tips to enhance good practices or dial up efforts to support gender-equitable boards.

leadershipguide
Gender Equity is Good Governance – Lessons from the Sport Sector (SIRC)
Gender Equity is Good Governance – Lessons from the Sport Sector (SIRC)

Within the Canadian sport sector, these are three organizations that have implemented board gender equity into their governance documents.

leadershiparticle
Women in Sport Leadership – 2021 Snapshot (CWS and E-Alliance)
Women in Sport Leadership – 2021 Snapshot (CWS and E-Alliance)

Research consistently proves that organizations that embrace gender equity outperform those that do not.

leadershipinfographic
Toolkit: Reframing Sport for Teenage Girls (Sport England)
Toolkit: Reframing Sport for Teenage Girls (Sport England)

Includes resources and key findings from the research which is funded by Sport England.

community-engagementtoolkit
Helping Women and Girls to Get Active: A Practical Guide (Sport England)
Helping Women and Girls to Get Active: A Practical Guide (Sport England)

This guide will help you get more women and girls in your area active – even if you’re not directly involved in the sport or leisure sector.

community-engagementguide
Go Where Women Are: Insight on engaging women and girls in sport and exercise (Sport England)
Go Where Women Are: Insight on engaging women and girls in sport and exercise (Sport England)

“Go Where Women Are” is about engaging women in sport and exercise on their terms and in their space whether physically or emotionally.

community-engagementdocument
Making the Case: Physical Activity and Women 55-70 (CWS)
Making the Case: Physical Activity and Women 55-70 (CWS)

This resource provides concrete evidence that makes the case for investing in physical activity initiatives for women 55–70.

community-engagementdocument
Supporting Diversity: Everyone Wins – Community Sporting Clubs (Vic Health, Australia)
Supporting Diversity: Everyone Wins – Community Sporting Clubs (Vic Health, Australia)

The toolkit specifically aims to help clubs increase the involvement of women and girls, Aboriginal people and people from culturally diverse communities.

organizational-culturetoolkit
Same Game: A step-by-step toolkit to bring your gender equity vision to life (CWS)
Same Game: A step-by-step toolkit to bring your gender equity vision to life (CWS)

An evidence-based, step-by-step, comprehensive online toolkit designed to help sport organizations bring their gender equity vision to life.

organizational-culturetoolkit
Gender Equity Temperature Check (CWS)
Gender Equity Temperature Check (CWS)

This self–assessment tool is designed for all sport and physical activity organizations/providers who want to reap the benefits of greater gender equity within their organizations.

organizational-culturetoolkit
Sex and Gender Diversity (CCES)
Sex and Gender Diversity (CCES)

As an advocate for sport that is fair, safe and open, the CCES has developed resources for the Canadian sport community to provide information and guidance for the inclusion of trans athletes.

organizational-culturee-learning
Leading the Way: Working with LGBT Athletes and Coaches (CWS)
Leading the Way: Working with LGBT Athletes and Coaches (CWS)

Based on the lived experiences of Canadian athletes and coaches, this resource highlights current issues in Canadian sport, from playground to podium.

organizational-culturedocument
Gender Equity LENS (CWS)
Gender Equity LENS (CWS)

With this new e-module from Canadian Women & Sport, you’ll learn how to bring a gender lens to sport and reflect on how your decisions can impact people differently.

organizational-culturee-learning
Creating Inclusive Environments for Trans Participants for Canadian Sport: Guidance for Sport Organizations (CCES)
Creating Inclusive Environments for Trans Participants for Canadian Sport: Guidance for Sport Organizations (CCES)

This resource was developed to provide Canadian sport leaders further guidance on what an inclusive policy document should contain.

organizational-cultureguide