‘Stuck in old boy’s club’ Female referees up in arms over treatment in Alberta

CALGARY (660 NEWS) – There are growing calls for change in how women are being treated as referees across Alberta. It comes as some women claim an inherent bias towards men in stripes.

This ref did not want her name to be shared and noted some of the struggles she has seen from other refs who came out with similar complaints.

She said that she is worried about her career ending or taking a major hit for speaking out. “For me, yes I want to have a voice, but at the same time I don’t want my career to take a hit either,” she said.

She also noted that she has seen her male colleagues leapfrog her and other women referees quickly, and often without merit.

“There are some people still stuck in that old-school old boy’s club,” where the thought is “females ‘you just can’t do it, it’s men’s hockey.'”

She points out the province continually sees problems with not enough people wanting to dawn the stripes.

“You would think if you are so short on referees, why not utilize every asset that you have, male and female anywhere you can, so whoever is the best gets the games right?” she said.

She also noted some of the prejudices stem around issues like upper body strength and the ability of women to stop fights.

“When it comes down to breaking up fights and whatnot, you’re not going to step into a fight in the middle of it,” she said. “You are going try to either prevent the fight from happening or else wait for the fight to be done when they are tired. Anybody in their right mind never goes into a fight right away.”

The Alberta Junior Hockey League has been embroiled in the controversy as well, which is an odd position for the league, as it has already had women play in the league.

Canadian Olympic goaltender Shannon Szabados played for the Sherwood Park Crusaders, Bonnyville Pontiacs and the Fort Saskatchewan Traders from 2002-2007.