When people ask me where my feminist personality comes from, my answer is always the same: sports. I was 10 years old when I realized that I was penalized for the simple and good reason that I was a girl.
From an early age, we learn that the masculine prevails over the feminine. That if I have “an apple and a broccoli” the pronoun used will be “they”.
I have never been shocked by this explanation. But when it came time to explain to me why the men’s soccer team had the best fields, my perception changed. The reason behind such a decision? The masculine takes precedence over the feminine. For the first time, this sentence shocked me and the explanation seemed insufficient to me.
” For what ? was my reaction and “that’s how it is” was their response. Why should the men’s team have the best pitches?
Why should we have fewer pitches than our male colleagues, when we too are the best players at the club?
A few years later, reality hit me hard. Still in a top team, but in a new association. We are promised land and several training sessions with the presence of the technical director of the association. We come out of this first meeting impressed by what we have heard.
In the end, the association was right. We did have our lands. Some holes, in natural grass and without light, but we had our land. A workout left a deep impression on me. The boys were on the beautiful synthetic pitch, we were on the natural grass one, on a small hill and without any lights. While the men’s team finished training at normal time, we had to finish ours 30 minutes early due to lack of light.
We hadn’t lied either about the presence of the technical director. I saw him often… when we had practice on a shared pitch with the boys’ teams. In the whole season, the director only came to our training two or three times, too busy taking care of the other teams.
An environmental problem
For the past few years, teenage girls have been encouraged to continue their sport. We advertise more and we have more discussions. But it must be admitted, the problem is not the lack of desire of young women, it lies in the environment of sport.
It resides in equipment made by men for men. In the absence of media coverage of our women’s teams. In the mentality of coaches and parents who shout “you play like a fi-girl” to insult their players and their children.
If by “playing like a girl” you mean playing soccer like Christine Sinclair/Jessie Fleming, playing hockey like Marie-Philip Poulin/Caroline Ouellette and playing rugby like Magali Harvey, then you’re hardly an insult.
For me, “playing like a girl” means playing with heart. For me, “playing like a girl” means not giving up despite obstacles, lack of resources and derogatory comments. For me, “playing like a girl” is the best compliment anyone could give me.