Pasternak sisters
Taking gender equality to the extreme
STEPHEN MCCREARY
By now, you’ve all heard the story of the Pasternak sisters, the two 17-year-old grade 12 Winnipeg girls who wanted to be able to try out for their school’s boys’ hockey team. They took their case to the Human Rights Commission, and in their infi nite wisdom, the commission decided that the Manitoba High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) was guilty of discrimination by insisting that girls play on girls’ teams. Excuse me, doesn’t a case such as this warrant the use of a little common sense, rather than the usual victimization claims and legal loopholes? Am I the victim of discrimination because I can’t use the women’s washroom? I also can’t get a membership to Shapes women’s fi tness centre — should I take them to court?
On Sept. 26, after the girls won their case to try out for the boys’ team, they were both cut from the team after tryouts. Maybe now that the smoke has cleared and the case proven a useless waste of time, the girls and the Human Rights Commission can both step back and learn a little from all of this.
Schools have girls' and boys' teams set up for a reason: to ensure a fair playing opportunity for all students. It is common knowledge (although it will make you unpopular to point it out) that boys are generally stronger and better at sports than girls. This is why the calibre of boys’ hockey will generally be higher than that of girls.
If these girls really wanted an opportunity to play hockey at a higher level of play, the opportunities are there, outside of school. There is the Winnipeg Women’s Hockey League, and the Winnipeg Minor Hockey Association (WMHA) has a female hockey program, with teams formed on skill level. If a girl felt her maximum potential still was not being reached on the WMHA’s top female AA team, she could submit a special application to the league and, according to the WMHAs rules and regulations, be considered for advancement to the boys' team. They would be on a level playing field with every male player.
Yes, the opportunities are out there, but the Pasternak twins chose instead to not play hockey for two years while waiting out this case. After their two-year break, not only were they permitted to try out for the boys’ team, they were awarded $3,500 each for “loss of dignity” as well as special training. The monetary awards, special training, and legal fees are all the responsibility of the MHSAA. The MHSAA is non-governmental, non-profi t agency and has limited funds. Money that could be used for benefi cial programs for students is now going to be spent on legal fees, making payment on a case that may very well destroy high school sports as we know it and make organizations like the MHSAA irrelevant!
All provincial organizations in Canada “assert that it is preferable for athletes to play on a gender specifi c team,” and the MHSAA is no diff erent. What will be the need for an organization like the MHSAA if the girls are now allowed to try out for boys’ team, and vice versa? It was stated in the Winnipeg Sun that this ruling does not mean boys can now try out for girls’ teams — but what is stopping them? If anything can be taken away from this lesson, it is that a simple legal case can overturn rules that are in place to ensure fairness. If this case is truly about gender equality, then it has to swing both ways.
And sure enough, only days after the ruling, stories were pouring in about boys wanting to try out for girls’ sports teams when boys or mixed teams are not off ered at their schools. What about when a couple guys don’t make the boys’ hockey team? Will they be allowed to try for the girls’ team and, predictably, make the team ahead of girls? Will the team still be referred to as a girls’ team when the boys eventually make up 90 per cent of the team? If this were to be the result of the ruling, why continue having gender-based teams at all?
It is hardly “discrimination” to require girls to play on girls’ teams. Th is ruling is an example of political correctness pushed far beyond reason. Girls should be allowed to play for whatever team they want — which they can, outside of school. No one is preventing them from doing that. But high school should be a place of structure, discipline and learning. The only thing students learn from cases like this is that rules are bendable as long as you’re willing to take your case to court.
