Time has come to put an end to ladies’ night
To the Olympic sports stuck in another century: The correct term is women
“In 2018, they’re not speaking the language . . . It’s a small thing. But language matters.” JENNIFER HEIL ON THE WORD “LADIES”
PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA— Jennifer Heil knows it can happen: She knows sports can change, sometimes in a relative blink. When she first competed at the Olympics as a freestyle skier in moguls in 2002, for instance, flips were prohibited. But by the time she won gold for Canada in Turin four years later, the rules had morphed so that back flips and front flips — inverted aerials in the parlance — had become go-to tricks. “Sports do evolve,” Heil said. But sports also sometimes cling to ancient traditions that make no sense. Like, for instance, the strangely enduring insistence of some Olympic sports to refer to the women competing at these Winter Games as “ladies.” Skiing and snowboarding still do this. So does skating, from ice dance to short track. Eight of the 14 sports showcased at the Games insist on using “ladies” over “women.” And Heil is among a rising swell of voices insisting it’s time those sports rethink a not-soquaint tradition.
“‘Ladies’ just doesn’t resonate. To me, these organizations are slow to change and haven’t caught up with the times,” Heil said. “In 2018, they’re not speaking the language . . . It’s a small thing. But language matters.”
Sara Renner, the four-time Olympian in cross-country skiing who won silver for Canada in Turin, calls it “a relic from a bygone era that somehow didn’t get edited.” Merriam-Webster defines “lady” as “a woman of refinement and gentle manners.” Which doesn’t exactly qualify its modern-day relevance.
“When I think of a lady, I think of someone with a parasol . . . It’s a term that doesn’t define these women in sport,” Renner said. “Let’s get with the times.”
The International Olympic Committee, when asked about the “ladies” versus “women” divide last week, said it defers to the international governing body of each Olympic sport to decide on its terminology.
Spokespeople for the International Skating Union (ISU) and the International Ski Federation (FIS), which both persist in using “ladies,” declined to make officials available for interviews on the topic.
“The ISU was founded in 1892 and since then the term ‘ladies’ was included in the ISU Constitution and Regulations. Since then the term has not been changed,” an ISU spokesperson wrote in an email. Well, exactly. “FIS has long used the term ladies’ as our style guide is based on British English, where the term ladies is commonly used vs. American English which leans towards the preference of using the term women,” a FIS spokesperson wrote in an email.
FIS isn’t the only organization that favours “ladies.” The folks at Wimbledon do, too, although they use the corresponding “gentlemen” to refer to Roger Federer et al. The players on the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour often play in the Women’s British Open (although the LPGA’s early moments, it’s worth noting, saw it succeed the Women’s Professional Golf Association, which suggests its use of “ladies” was more about brand availability than anachronistic cluelessness). And clearly there are many who don’t have a problem with Olympic competitors being referred to as “ladies.”
“(Ladies) is just a word in the dictionary,” said Laura Schuler, the Canadian Olympic hockey coach. Schuler’s sport, mind you, goes with “women.” And Schuler’s reluctance to engage in the discussion might speak more to her single-minded quest for Olympic gold than her all-round open-mindedness.
But four-time U.S. Olympian Angela Ruggeiro, she of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s class of 2015, said the issue is on her radar, and that could prove significant. Ruggeiro, chair of the IOC’s athletes’ commission and one of four women on the IOC’s 14member executive board, is also involved in an IOC project aimed at raising awareness and pinpointing solutions around the struggle for gender equality. Ruggeiro said that while the IOC’s gender-equality group is focused on broad, practical strokes — like ensuring member countries are kept honest about providing equal funding and opportunity for women — they’re also aware that, when it comes to the portrayal of women in sport, the details matter, too.
“To me, (the use of ‘ladies’) doesn’t make sense,” Ruggeiro said.
While it’s true the IOC currently leaves international federations to their own devices on the issue, Ruggeiro said nothing is forever.
“Right now it’s up to the feder- ations. But the Games belong to the IOC,” Ruggeiro said. “We’re just starting the conversation with this project. Let’s ask, ‘Why do you refer to women as ladies?’ . . . Maybe in the context of the Olympics we require a different vernacular — a standardized vernacular across all sports . . . It doesn’t have to be the way it’s always been.”
Certainly one could argue there exist gaping gender-based divisions in need of repair. Canadian bobsled star Kaillie Humphries has spoken of her desire to expand the number of women’s events in her sport; there’s currently just one, compared to two for men. Women ski jumpers, who made their long-awaited debut in the Games in 2014, are engaged in a similar struggle. Their male counterparts get to compete in as many as three events; the “ladies” of ski jumping are limited to one.
Those are worthy causes, but Heil pointed out there’s progress being made, too. As the Olympics come to a close on Sunday, women will compete in two of four events featured on the marquee final day, traditionally a male-dominated domain. Ruggeiro said she’d like to see that bit of advancement taken a step further.
“I would absolutely love to see the final event in a Winter Olympics be women’s hockey instead of men’s hockey. Maybe it rotates. Maybe there’s a women’s marathon on the final day of the Summer Games. Change the tradition. Let women finish the Games in Tokyo as opposed to men,” Ruggeiro said.
Heil, who is currently working on developing strategies to increase participation rates in sports for young people in B.C., thinks the elimination of the use of “ladies” ought to be a priority. In doing her work, Heil said it has become clear that “traditional gender roles and stereotypes” continue to drive young girls away from sport. The idea that girls ought to concentrate on being pretty or popular instead of being strong and driven — that they ought to be ladylike in lieu of being athletic and relentless — it can hold them back from embracing sport and all its proven benefits. Using outmoded language at the Olympics surely isn’t helping the cause. “To me, it has to change,” Heil said. That is why, when Heil has worked as a CBC freestyle skiing analyst during these Olympics, she has used the word “women” while refusing to utter “ladies.” The CBC, to its credit, has suggested other analysts do the same. Sports can evolve at lightning speed. That they haven’t on this matter suggests a forceful push in the right direction might produce a compelling flip.
“To me, the big picture is how can we make being active and being involved in sport resonate with more girls and make it a positive experience. To me, that’s the big picture and this issue (around the use of ‘ladies’) a very small piece in it,” Heil said. “But for sure, the use of (ladies) doesn’t represent the times. ‘Women’ is current. That’s where we’re at. Let’s go with that.”