WOODLAND HILLS, CA — The YWCA of Canada has started a campaign to promote gender equality and highlight sexism in sports. The “Add the M” campaign states that leagues that have comparable women’s leagues should add an “M” to their logos, tournament descriptors, and media coverage to distinguish men’s sports from women’s, instead of treating men’s leagues as the default. They posted a video explaining the campaign on YouTube on March 24, but United States media is just getting wind of it recently.
An example of what the new NBA logo would look like if it were rebranded. (Photo Credit: YWCA Metro Vancouver)
Canadian Soccer great, Christine Sinclair is backing the campaign and using social media to bring awareness to it.
“When men’s sports are treated as the default for all sport, women’s sports get left out of the conversation. It’s time to add the M to shift perception and create change,” Sinclair said when the campaign launched.
(Photo Credit: Timbers.com)
Sinclair is the world’s all-time leading international goal scorer for either women’s or men’s soccer. She’s scored 189 goals, is only the second person of any sex to score at five World Cups, has won an Olympic gold medal, two Olympic bronze medals, and is a 14-time winner of the Canada Soccer Player of the Year award.
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The words that society uses matter. Even with all of Sinclair’s achievements in the soccer world, if you Google “top international goal scorer soccer,” Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo’s name will appear in the top spot, even though he has 115 goals and Sinclair has 189. Even Google defaults to men’s results when you don’t include the word “men” in the search instead of bringing up the correct result regardless of biological sex.
Screenshot that was taken on April 29, 2022. (Photo Credit: Jenilee Borek)
The campaign asks a simple question that many sports fans have not even thought about: “Ever wonder why men’s sports are just called 'sports', and women’s sports are called women’s sports?” The assumption when someone hears the word “sports” is that the conversation will inherently be about men’s sports. It may seem like a small and insignificant thing to some, but this is how unconscious sexism gets ingrained in institutions.
This was the first year that the NCAA added the word “men’s” to the “Men’s Final Four” instead of just calling it the “Final Four.” College baseball has done something similar by changing “College World Series” to “Men’s College World Series.” The NWHL rebranded itself to the “Premiere Hockey Federation” in 2021 to remove the “W” from its brand. There are many leagues and events that could use this change. Here’s a list of some of them and the current titles they go by:
Soccer (FIFA) - FIFA World Cup vs. FIFA Women’s World Cup
Basketball (NBA) - NBA vs. WNBA
Golf (PGA) - PGA Tour vs. LPGA
Ice Hockey (IIHF) - Ice Hockey World Championship vs. Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship
Cycling (UCI) - UCI World Tour vs. UCI Women’s World Tour
Soccer (MLS) - MLS vs. NWSL
Basketball (FIBA) - FIBA Basketball World Cup vs. FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup
Golf (USGA) - U.S. Open vs. U.S. Women’s Open
“One in three girls drop out of sports in their late teens, compared to just one in 10 boys. Girls are losing out on all the advantages sport provides as they move into adulthood — from health and wellness to leadership development, to the support of a team. We want to see added investment, opportunity, and representation for women in sport. Add the M helps us confront the gender disparity that is affecting women athletes at all levels,” Amy Juschka, Director of Communications and Advocacy with YWCA Metro Vancouver said.
AUDIO
Jenilee reports on the YWCA of Canada starting the "Add the M" campaign
Adding the “M” would be one small step towards gender equity in sports. It will take financial investments, media coverage, and more female role models for young girls in order for women’s sports to achieve the same recognition and popularity as men’s sports have.
By: Jenilee Borek
Contributions: NBC Sports, Daily Hive, The Seattle Times, YWCA Metro Vancouver
Photo Credit: YWCA Metro Vancouver, Timbers. Jenilee Borek
Audio: Jenilee Borek, Sportsnet
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