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On July 27, 1859, "Canada" Kate Clark met two Americans, Nellie Stem and Mary Dwyer, for a pair of prize fights in Fort Erie, Canada West. Beginning their adventure in Buffalo, New York, they rowed their way across the Niagara River to the fighting grounds in the British colony. Like pugilists before them, they stripped to the waist to limit potential grappling in battle. Both the journey and pre-fight fight preparations were tried and true components of mid-nineteenth century prize fighting. Although the press, and later historians, overwhelmingly associated such performances with male combatants, women were indeed active in Canadian pugilistic circles, settling scores, testing their mettle, and displaying their fistic abilities both pre- and post-Confederation. In this article, we begin to untangle the various threads of female pugilism, situating these athletes and performers within the broader literature on both boxing and women's sport in Canada. By examining media reports of female boxers—both in sparring and prize fighting—we hope to provide a historiographic foundation for further discussions of early female pugilism, highlighting the various ways these women upheld and challenged the notion of the "new woman" in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women sports fans have been substantially understudied compared to their male counterparts. While a growing number of studies seek to redress this, there remains a stark absence of quantitative approaches that would allow investigations regarding patterns of women's sporting consumption and historical trends in the potential growth of this fandom. Using large-scale survey data from Canada from 1990 through to 2015, and employing quantitative methods of latent class and regression analysis, this study seeks to redress these issues by testing the 'feminization' thesis of increased women's sporting fandom over the past three decades. In addition, we consider whether women's fandom has become increasingly 'omnivorous' over this time period and the nature of this consumption today. Results show support for the feminization thesis. These findings are significant as through the use of quantitative methodologies we evidence the narrowing gender gaps in professional sports following between men and women, and women's increasingly omnivorous consumption of sports. However, we find substantial gender gaps and inequalities in omnivorism by which the evidence suggests increased socio-economic and cultural barriers to omnivorous consumption of sport for women. We suggest that these women omnivores may be able to utilize their sporting knowledge in an instrumental way for benefits in various social settings, especially workplaces. It is hoped that this article will pave the way for further quantitative studies on women sports fans across different contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses senior women's field lacrosse in Canada during the 1980s through referencing the author's personal experience as a lacrosse player, including her teams which consisted of people from British Columbia and Ontario. An overview of Canadian lacrosse teams' participation in the lacrosse World Cup tournaments is provided.

The article presents an examination of the history of women's college basketball in Canada. If explores the meeting between the Queen's University and McGill University in 1920 in Montreal, Quebec, which was the first time two Canadian women's college basketball teams competed against each other. The article discusses the games that were played during the two-team tournament as well as the events surrounding the games. It also discusses how the meeting influenced women's sports, contributed to women's rights and exposed issues related to gender equality.

This study considers the politics of ex/inclusion and access to the socially constituted ice rink and how ideological meanings about athleticism, physicality, femininity, and masculinity that these dynamic processes (re)produce are attributed (in often troubling ways) to bodies in specific sport spaces. By considering the political economy of women's hockey at the Banff Winter Carnival within the context of women's hockey in Alberta in the 1920s and 1930s, the author discusses how women's bodily practices as hockey players have significance beyond the outdoor rinks at the carnival in that they signify the extent to which women's bodies have become temporarily attached to the "Canadian" practice of hockey. These moments reflect political circumstances that enable this attachment and illuminate the complex tensions that develop when bodies not expected to enter certain spaces do so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares women’s sport advocacy groups in Canada and the United States from an institutionalist perspective. Women’s sport advocacy groups address similar issues and have similar mandates in both countries, but yet differ markedly in their evolution and strategy choices. We seek to understand the extent to which their institutional environment constrains and/or enables group strategies to enhance our understanding of which factors influence advocacy organizations in the sport policy sector. The article concludes by arguing that institutional, cultural, and economic factors as well as differences in the political opportunity structure (POS) help explain the differences in the development and strategy choices of women’s sport advocacy groups in both countries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In fall 2001, over 200 digital television channels were launched in Canada. One of those channels was WTSN (Women's Television Sports Network)—the world's first 24- hour television network exclusively dedicated to broadcasting women's sports. In the fall of 2003, however, WTSN ceased broadcasting operations. This analysis of CRTC policies and personal interview data with Canadian media members argues that while the demise of WTSN can be attributed to the unfortunate pitfalls associated with early digital television rollout and cultural policies, the network's downfall is best explained in substantially more ideological terms. From the outset, WTSN entered uncharted waters in the Canadian television sport landscape, attempting to showcase women's sports to a predominantly female audience—a demographic that has yet to materialize for mainstream sports programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While Canada is known as a hockey nation, it is not particularly noted for soccer. Far more Canadian girls play soccer than ice hockey, and the growth during the 1990s and into the new millennium has been spectacular. For the past several years, females have accounted for over one-third of the new registrations each year. Soccer did not always welcome females, especially if they wanted to play on boys' teams, which many had to do before clubs, leagues, schools and universities began to initiate programmes for girls and women. The remarkable growth of grassroots soccer among female youth in the 1980s and 1990s has paid off in the development of a women's national team programme, first initiated in 1986. Professionally, several Canadians now play in the eight-team Women's United Soccer Association. This chapter traces the development of women's soccer in Canada from its beginnings in the 1920s to its present day popularity, pointing out some of the issues, problems and struggles still remaining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]