This is truly a topic that never seems to get settled nor does it ever go away: gender in sports. This will be an interesting topic for us especially because we have observed some instances of it in our own class.

What am I talking about? Well a professional, female goalie by the name of Stephanie Labbé wanted to play on the men’s Calgary Foothills FC soccer team. She made it onto the team…BUT the league did not allow her. Why? Because she is a woman. That is all.

Nothing to do with her skill level or her ability: it was her gender which got her barred. To make matters even worse, she anticipated that she would be placed on this men’s team and is now having to scramble to get signed on to play for another team.

Here is a new’s article to provide you with a detailed story. 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/top-female-soccer-player-barred-from-mens-league-1.4644837

So what do you think about this? Should sports be segregated – that is, leagues for only men and women or should they be mixed? Do you think that Labbé should be allowed to join this team or is she interfering with the men’s league? Do you think that if she played on this men’s team, she might be treated differently because she is a woman? For example, if she had a tough game and let in 5 goals, would people be more likely to say that she is a woman who is not cut out to play in a man’s league or no?  Do you think that news like this discourages women from playing professional level sports or no?

Thank you to Ms. Dunnett for sharing this story when it broke!