'It's somewhere on the list but maybe it's one of the bottom ones': examining gender equity as an organisational value in a sport organisation

Abstract

Gender equity has become an organisational value in Canadian university athletic departments in recent years. Yet, there is evidence of gender inequities in those departments. This suggests that this value is espoused but not enacted in practice. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between gender equity and other organisational values (performance excellence and revenue generation) in one Canadian university athletic department in order to highlight underlying assumptions that serve to perpetuate inequities. Case studies of four sport programmes (basketball, ice hockey, rugby and swimming) were conducted and involved the collection of relevant documents, observations of practices and competitions and interviews with key stakeholders. The analysis of the data revealed that performance excellence and revenue generation often took precedence over gender equity in the department. As a result, the prioritisation of these values perpetuated gender inequities for athletes.