Policies in Practice: Female Athletes’ Experiences of Gender Equity in U.S. and Canadian Intercollegiate Athletics

Abstract

This paper asks if the differences in intercollegiate gender equity policy between American and Canadian Universities impacts individual female athletes experiences. It argues that gender equity policies significantly impact female athletes' experiences throughout their college career. I hypothesize that female athletes in America will report greater policy awareness, more equitable resource allocation, and an overall more equitable athletic experience than Canadian female athletes due to the presence of a legally binding policy. It evaluates this argument through a qualitative study, rooted in semi-structured interviews with 36 female athletes from both countries who play in either the NCAA (United States) or U SPORTS (Canada) within the past five years. It finds that all American participants demonstrated a baseline awareness of Title IX, while nearly all Canadian athletes except for one had no knowledge of Canadian gender equity politics, that resource disparities were significantly more pronounced at Canadian institutions, and that media coverage inequity emerged as the most consistently felt inequity across both American and Canadian athletes, regardless of policy framework. It also finds that legal mandates alone do not guarantee equitable experiences, as American athletes’ meaningful engagement with Title IX varied considerably depending on how their institutions chose to implement it. It concludes that while a legally binding framework such as Title IX produces measurably greater policy awareness and institutional accountability than an incentive-driven model, gender equity in intercollegiate athletics not only requires enforceable policy but institutional cultures that actively educate athletes on gender equity and their rights and invest more time and resources into the visibility of women’s sports.