Speaker
Description
In this presentation, I will report about a gender audit I conducted of Biathlon Canada, the national governing body of biathlon. Biathlon Canada contracted the gender audit because of its commitment to improving gender equity in all aspects of its organization and operation. Research was conducted about how gender is taken into consideration (or not) in all aspects of the organization, and to inform evidence-based recommendations for change. According to the International Labour Office (ILO), a gender audit: “establishes a baseline; identifies critical gaps and challenges; and recommends ways of addressing them, suggesting possible improvements and innovations. It also documents good practices towards the achievement of gender equality”. To this end, the gender audit focused on collecting data that could be used to establish a baseline for Biathlon Canada with respect to gender equity, and to identify the organization’s critical gaps and challenges. Findings indicated a distinction between the experiences of the culture of, and participation in, grassroots or club-based biathlon and the perceptions of Biathlon Canada. Both the culture of biathlon and participation in biathlon include facilitators of and barriers to girls’ and women’s participation. Experience with this research process revealed both the potential of and the challenges associated with conducting a gender audit of a national sport organization.
