Grant-A-Week WINNER
HAMILTON GIRLS' HOCKEY ASSOCIATION

IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED- TRY, TRY AGAIN

It was in 1991 that my daughter wanted to play hockey. She was 14 at the time and wanted to play on a girl's team. Hamilton had nothing to offer. When a group of us asked the city recreation department for 1 hour of ice, we were told there was no ice available. The boys had the ice all locked up. We then approached one of the boy's associations and they agreed to supply us with one hour of their allotted ice time. That was the start of an up hill battle.

We continued to grow every year at a steady pace. (This season we will have 300 minor girls registered in our Association) Every year we would approach the city again for ice time. In 1994, a new twin pad arena opened in Hamilton. Although the Ontario Womens' Hockey Association did a presentation at the OMB hearing and showed the need for female hockey, it was not to be. A new Boys Association was formed. Girl's hockey did receive more city ice time but it was spread amongst five arenas.

We continued to submit our request for ice to the city each year and came across the same excuses, NO ICE TIME AVAILABLE.

In the early part of 1998, I questioned the recreation department about a gender equity policy or the lack of one. I discovered that Hamilton was supposed to have been part of a pilot project for gender equity but had tabled the issue for four years. It was then that the Association started to create a brief to the Parks and recreation department showing the need for a gender equity policy.

In May of 1998, I presented a brief to the Parks and Recreation Department pointing out the importance of sport for females. I researched information on the importance of physical activity, and other existing policies. I also questioned the committee on why the issue had been tabled for four years. The committee passed a motion at the meeting for a policy to be developed and brought back for approval in September.

It was not until January of 1999 that the city held meetings with all stakeholders for input into the policy. The information discussed at these meetings was used to create a gender equity policy to cover all sports.

In June of 1999 a gender policy was presented to the Parks and Recreation Department and passed unanimously. Although the policy is in place, it is still necessary to make sure the policy is enforced. Without a policy in place, females will continue to face barriers. This policy will benefit not only girls' hockey in Hamilton but also all female sports.

I encourage everyone to continue to pressure their cities for a working policy. Never ever, give up.

Sue Gibson
President H.G.H.Canada, CAAWS, girls body image,where to play sports, girls self-esteem, girls soccer, girls cycling, girls and nutrition, nutrition for active girls, Canadian Association for women and sport, girls@play, snowboarding, skating, boarding, girl site, sports girl, extreme girl, mountain biking, skateboards, surfboards, X Games"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));

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