Gender Equity Forum at Nationals 2016

Dear ultimate community members,

A few weeks ago, the Gender Equity Action Group released a statement of beliefs around gender equity in ultimate.  Since releasing our statement, our group has had very positive and encouraging communications with USA Ultimate.  In addition to an initial conference call with Tom Crawford and DeAnna Ball, USAU has graciously invited us to join them in Colorado Springs for an in-person conversation about Gender Equity in our sport.  Representatives from our group are planning a trip to Colorado post-nationals. We are excited to work together with USAU to promote gender equity and want to gather more information and feedback from our community to take into our meeting with them.  We also recognize that while our initial statement focused primarily on Gender Equity in broadcasting, achieving equity in media coverage is just one of many steps our community needs to take in order to move beyond gender bias in our sport.

At Nationals, we’d love to gather to continue an open conversation across all teams and with all players and community members.  This will also give us a better sense of how you’re all feeling when the GEAG enters an in-person meeting with USAU.

Friday, September 30th, from 6:30 – 7:30 pm, at the Five Ultimate tent, we’ll be hosting a player-facilitated gender equity forum, and we are inviting any players and community members present at nationals to attend. Five has graciously offered its tent space, so we’ll plan on meeting rain or shine, and bring a warm jacket!

Wherever you are in this conversation about gender equity, we strongly encourage everyone to join us! Whether this will be your first time thinking about and discussing gender in ultimate, or you’re a seasoned gender equity advocate, please come out on Friday to join the conversation.

For about half the time, we’ll be breaking out into small discussion groups. We’ve included some ideas for breakout group topics below, but we’d like to make sure we’re covering things that YOU want to talk about!  So, if you have ideas or would like to volunteer to help facilitate a discussion group or take notes, please contact the Gender Equity Action Group at genderequityactiongroup@gmail.com.

Small group discussion topics:

1. The Basics. What’s the difference between equity and equality, and is equity even fair? How do I fit into this discussion, and what should I be doing… or not doing?

2. Idea Lab. Meet, share ideas with, ask questions of other players trying to grow women’s ultimate in their communities. What can you do to promote gender equity as a coach and/or organizer? How do we get more women involved as players and observers?

3. Let’s Talk About Mixed. Even if you don’t play in the mixed club division, chances are you’ve played on a mixed team (Summer league? Lei Out? Olympics 2024?). What makes a mixed experienced great? What makes it challenging? What can mixed division teams do to become better role models of gender equity?

4. The Big Picture. How do the larger institutions in our sport (USAU, the Pro Leagues, etc.) affect gender equity in ultimate? What should we be asking of them?

5. USAU and Us. What does gender equity look like in media broadcasting? What are some concrete changes that can be made to achieve a more equitable broadcasting policy?

Thanks for reading this through and we sincerely hope you can make it out on Friday. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions.

On behalf of the Gender Equity Action Group,

Hannah Baranes, Slow White
Chip Chang, Drag’n Thrust
Emily Regan, Drag’n Thrust