Misogyny in ice hockey

Misogyny in ice hockey refers to the discourses, actions, and ideologies which are present in ice hockey, environments which contribute to the discrimination against women in the sport as well as their absence from it. This phenomenon includes issues related to sexism and male chauvinism. The subject has been extensively discussed in both media and academia, with many women in the sport increasingly speaking out about the extent of misogyny in hockey and its negative impact on the sport. Women have participated in organized ice hockey and other sports from the late nineteenth century onwards. Modern organized sports did not exist until after the industrial age. Historically, organized women's ice hockey has only developed relatively recently as an enduring phenomenon. From the late 1800s, when the sport first began to organize formally, and throughout most of the 1900s, national ice hockey associations found little evidence of existing interest among the female population in regards to participation in ice hockey while substantial interest existed for participation in other winter sports such as figure skating and broomball. In Canada, participation among girls and women in ice hockey by the 1980s registered less than six thousand players nationwide. In the beginning, ice hockey was only played by either sex in the areas of North America which had the right climate that would make a winter season possible, restricting the growth of the sport. Until indoor ice rinks became more widespread, all players, male or female, had to play outdoors where ice was available and could be found. Since registrations were low prior to the mid-1980s, female players had few options when it came to finding other girls to play with and against and felt intimidated by the fact that they had to compete against boys and men. The fact that males in comparison to females have a biological advantage which impacts athletic performance including factors such as physical size, mass, weight, and power, all served as a major deterrent for potential female participants.