Sport management chair to serve as co-director of new gender equity research hub

Dr. Ann Pegoraro, the new Lang Chair in Sport Management, will play an integral role in advancing gender equity in sport within Canada through a new, collaborative research hub.

The Federal Ministry of Heritage, through Sport Canada, has awarded the national Gender Equity in Sport Research Hub to Dr. Pegoraro and her colleagues, professor Gretchen Kerr (University of Toronto) and professor Guylaine Demers (Laval University), to develop an internationally recognized research and innovation centre that will collect, generate and disseminate research on gender equity in sport.

“Bringing together the research community, and key sport sector partners to focus on advancing gender equity will have a lasting impact on the Canadian sport system and firmly establish Canada as a leader in the global gender equity movement,” says Pegoraro.  

The proposed research hub will be a unique network of researchers from the academic community, representatives from the sport community, government and NGO bodies, and gender equity experts from outside sport and universities to advance gender equity in sport with a special emphasis on participation and leadership. 

“Girls and women in sport have lower participation rates, report significantly higher experiences of violence than their male counterparts, and the number of women in coaching positions are on the decline.”

The hub will build databases of research associated with the two main themes of participation and leadership, and commission, deliver and support research projects that attempt to answer the questions associated with these themes. Two other priorities, inadequate media coverage and gender-based violence, will be examined as barriers under the two main themes.

“With respect to participation, we are referring to the engagement of girls and women as participants in all levels of sport – from recreational or local club levels, to provincial and national level sport,” says U of T’s Gretchen Kerr. “Leadership refers to women in positions such as coaching, officiating and sport administration at local, provincial and national levels of Canadian sport.”

“Dr. Pegoraro is an exceptional addition to the Lang research community,” says Sean Lyons, Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Studies. “Her research with the Gender Equity in Sport Research Hub exemplifies Lang’s commitment to research quality, impact, collaboration, knowledge mobilization
and community engagement. The Lang School is positioned to be Canada’s foremost centre for sport management research.”

Pegoraro will join the Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics as the innaugural Lang Chair in Sport Management on September 1st.