As sports event producers, we’ve questioned whether we’re doing enough to make female athletes feel welcome and treated equally. We’d love to achieve the same number of male and female athletes, just as the Paris Olympics finally did in 2024… but let’s remember it took them 124 years!
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In reality, female athletes aren’t always present at action sports events. Why is that? Is it because they don’t have a good experience? Maybe they don’t feel reached out to or represented? Are we doing what’s necessary to make them shine? By engaging in dialogue with female athletes, we share with you the insights that have emerged regarding the inequalities in treatment between women and men in sports event management.
Unfavorable Competition Schedules
One challenge women face is the scheduling of sports events, which greatly influences the visibility and recognition of athletes. Too often, women’s competitions are relegated to less attractive time slots, such as early in the day or in periods when the audience is absent. Worse yet, they’re often the first to be canceled in case of constraints (weather, logistics, TV broadcasting).
So why are women’s time slots often less advantageous? The answer lies in commercial logic and audience numbers. Organizers place men’s events in prime time because they believe they attract more viewers and sponsors. This logic sends a message to female athletes that they are not important or certainly less so than men. It diminishes their credibility and visibility. Yet they travel just as much to get there and give their 100%! Who likes to perform in an empty room without encouragement? It’s discouraging, and you feel like you don’t belong. It sends the same message to the public, who then have less or no access to women’s performances.
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Fortunately, some events are trying to adjust. At the 2024 Winter X Games, organizers decided to close their event with the women’s Big Air final. We were there, and let me tell you, the audience showed up! Placing a women’s final at the end of the day or as the event’s closing shouldn’t be an exception, but rather a habit of logical evolution!
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Redefining the Perception of Women’s Sports
Event management relies on performance because its success lies in the WOW moments that make the crowd vibrate, but progression is just as important to value and WOW! Too often, female athletes’ performances are forgotten because as long as we compare women’s sports to men’s sports, women will unfortunately always be seen as inferior. They are two completely different things. Male athletes are physically, by their DNA, different—stronger, faster, and more robust. By comparing the two, women will always be at a disadvantage.
**Here I specify male athletes because in everyday life, many women are stronger, more robust, and faster than their male counterparts!
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At the recent X Games, Hiroto Ogiwara landed the first 2340, and it made headlines everywhere! On the women’s side, Kokomo Murase accomplished the first frontside triple cork 1440 in competition.
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Chloe Kim landed the first double cork 1080 in the Superpipe.
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott executed the first Backside Triple 1440 in slopestyle competition. Yes, a 2340 is bigger than a 1440, but women are finally reaching unprecedented levels, and it’s just as incredible to watch!
In a pre-interview with Annie Guglia, she said: “We mistakenly think that because men have better performances in sports, it’s more important. That more people are interested in watching that because it’s more performant. But performance isn’t the only thing that matters. I prefer watching a women’s soccer match; it interests me much more than a men’s match because since we were born, it’s only been men playing soccer. We’re getting back to that!”
Men have a head start because they’ve always played sports, whereas for women, it was forbidden. We have at least 100 years of catching up to do. It’s slower in extreme sports because it’s even rarer. Event organizers then think that the women’s side is less impressive and that it doesn’t interest their audience. But the more importance we give them, the more girls are present, and the higher the level rises because we want to progress to do better than others.
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Laurie Blouin told us in a pre-interview: “Now there are plenty of good girls compared to before when there were only 3-4. Today, there are about at least ten really good ones internationally, and everyone is inspiring!! There was a big gap before with the guys, and today we’re getting closer. That’s what’s fun. The girls are really progressing a lot, and even people now prefer watching the girls over the guys.”
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An Environment Still Too Masculine
Despite the rise of female athletes in action sports, event organization remains largely dominated by male judges, coaches, commentators, referees, and cameramen/photographers. As Guylaine Demers says so well in our documentary, “if male athletes were surrounded only by female coaches, referees, judges, commentators, surely someone would immediately say, ‘Well, this doesn’t work! There are only women, and we have male athletes.’” It indeed wouldn’t pass, but the reverse doesn’t seem to bother anyone.
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For example, at the recent X Games, women’s ski events are commented on by a woman and a man, but for men’s skiing, it’s back to two men. For snowboarding, the duo Craig McMorris and Brando Graham add a female athlete on the women’s side and remain just the two of them for the men.
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Kudos for the effort; it’s progress that we’re paying attention to this today, but what strikes me is that women don’t commentate on the men. Why wouldn’t Maggie Voisin, who comments on women’s skiing, be able to do the same for the men? Wouldn’t it be credible? Do you see the message that sends? Men have long commented on women; the reverse would do us good! Maybe the next step is to always try to have a guy and a woman.
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At Tribu, we became aware of this during the last Jackalope event, as you can see in the documentary. President Micah Desforges said: “That’s a good point; I had never noticed. It’s like a reflex in a way. I personally know fewer nearby talents for these positions.” Unlike the public and athletes, he sees that his team is mostly female. But when the people on stage are only male, it perpetuates the idea that women don’t really have a place in action sports. We paid attention to this for the 2025 edition of APIK Mississauga. Kim Lamarre commented on the ski webcast. It’s a start, and we are improving event after event.
Why does this invisibility of women in the competition environment persist? Well, action sports have long been “boys’ clubs” where the first practitioners and organizers were exclusively men. Recruitment often happens through networks, and in a male circle, men are predominantly chosen for these roles. Women still have to prove their legitimacy to be judges or commentators, while their male counterparts benefit from automatic recognition.
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In Summary, How to Change Things?
✔ Make women’s events unmissable
schedule finals in the evening or as closings to maximize the audience.
✔ Diversify the competition environment
recruit women as judges, coaches, photographers, and commentators.
✔ Encourage sponsors to invest in female athletes, not just male figures.
✔ Create solid and independent circuits for women
so that they aren’t just an “added category” to men’s events.
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