Without Title IX, Canadian Women and Girls Are Writing Their Own Playbook

When Title IX passed in the United States in 1972, it changed the game, literally. It forced schools to provide equal opportunities in education and sport regardless of gender. Since then, American women’s sports have grown exponentially. Participation has surged by over 1,000% in high schools and more than 600% in colleges. It was a policy, and it sparked a movement.

Here in Canada, we don’t have Title IX. There’s no single piece of legislation pushing our institutions to level the playing field for girls and women in sport. Instead, we rely on a patchwork of policies and protections, like the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, provincial human rights codes, and Sport Canada’s Gender Equity Strategy. While these frameworks promote equality, they don’t carry the same enforceable weight Title IX does.

Progress in Canada has been driven mostly by individual organizations, local leaders, and grassroots efforts, and while we’ve come a long way, the numbers speak for themselves:

• Only 18% of head coaches at the university level are women
  

• Just 30% of board members in National Sport Organizations are women
  

• And yet, girls now make up nearly 45% of youth sport participants
  

The pipeline is full, but leadership still doesn’t reflect that reality. So what’s stopping us? Part of the answer: us. Too often, we wait. For someone else to fix it, to invite us in, to give us permission. But women in sport don’t need permission, we need action.

That means:

• Choosing to mentor, not gatekeep
  

• Speaking up when a woman is overlooked or talked over in the room
  

• Encouraging girls not just to play, but to coach, officiate, and lead
  

• Creating space, not just for ourselves, but for the next wave of women coming up behind us
  
  

It starts here, it starts with us.

Every time we lead with purpose, every time we lift another woman up, we’re doing the work that Title IX did, without needing a law to force it. We are writing our own playbook.

Let’s keep the momentum going.
Let’s make space.
Let’s make noise.
Let’s make better choices for women, starting with our own.

Be the catalyst

Coach Steph