Abstract
ABSTRACT This paper finds that a background in competitive, organised sports is common among those active in electoral politics. Unique data collected through surveys of federal election candidates and local party association presidents together with the examination of candidate and MP biographies establish that many have a sporting background. This sporting experience offers the opportunity for individuals to acquire skills beneficial to political candidacy and makes them more attractive to party gatekeepers. This paper then connects this, and the significantly lower sports participation rates among women/girls, to their consistent under-representation in the pool of election candidates presented by Canada’s political parties and at every level of our elected legislatures. Women/girls participate in sports at significantly lower levels than men/boys. Men thus benefit disproportionately from both the personal skills developed through sports that lead to formal political participation and the local notoriety desired by party candidate search committees that sports participation offers.
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