0:04  
I feel like kids always just play the sports that their parents play, but my mom played like provincial level soccer like she played for Ontario. I played soccer from like, four, I think, yeah, it just took me really far and then I got injured really bad. I tore both my ACLs so that really hurt because I always wanted to kind of play sport in university or even maybe professionally one day. But that just kind of like set me really back.

0:30  
Aaliyah Grasia graduated from Humber College in 2018. with a degree in sports management, She now works as the varsity assistant for Ryerson University. While studying her degree, at only 17 years of age, she immediately began facing problems due to the ratio of men to women in her class.

0:47  
I remember when I was getting my degree, probably, I would say 95% of my class was male. So I felt that I did have to work a bit harder. Even though a lot of the time I already knew I was better. It is still a very male dominated industry, so showing that I not only was just as good but better than some of the guys that I was getting the same degree as was a big part of my school playing.

1:14  
In a 2004 study posted by Research Gate, statistics showed that women were underrepresented in managerial roles in professional and collegiate sports. Other than pushing female athletes, surely encouraging young women to enter sports programs at a university level and aim for sport management roles is the next step.

1:32  
Male sports are much more emphasized and highlighted in the media and in just everyday life. The opportunities to get people into sport may be exhibited more highly to males than females. I don't think it had anything to do with admission requirements or anything. I think it's genuinely just the fact that I think that these opportunities are much more available to men and women, you know, kind of have to seek them out and work a bit harder. Right now the NBA is doing pretty good. There's a full like, female ref team that's been going on in the G League. There is a lot more women being hired in CEO roles and things like that, but it's not going to be it's not going to be fixed really until that is normalized. Like until I walk into an office and I'm not expecting to see a male president or a male CEO, then that's, you know, that's when I think the inequality will have officially been diminished in the industry. So going forward, I'm gonna work my hardest and make it to the top so that that can be banished as fast as possible.

2:50  
Nike recently released their latest advert starring Serena Williams, highlighting the strength of female athletes in the face of adversity. Gillette's 2019 campaign target  toxic masculinity and locker room behavior. Both adverts received backlash online from male

3:08  
audiences. Probably the most annoying thing I see right now is that usually the men's and women's basketball and volleyball teams, they'll play other other schools on the exact same day. But the thing is, they will leave the primetime slot always for the men. So usually women will play around four, and then men will play around six. Ryerson as an employer is surely diverse, so a lot of the department is comprised of woman. I've seen no inequality there.

3:40  
Jessica Roque, head assistant coach of the Ryerson Rams women's team believes the biggest issue facing female athletes is the coverage they receive at a university level.

3:51  
I think at Ryerson, we try to be division one, if you will, we just don't have the big ESPN, you know, sports coverage. Like nationals is being televised on TSN but none of our games during the season. You can watch them online. That to me would be like the next step. That's that's really the, to me, the biggest difference is the scale on which things are done. We watched the men's final because our men played in the National Finals in Halifax. And I just remember thinking this is an incredible experience I'm sure for the the athletes in the game, but even as a fan and a spectator to have that like March Madness feel because I didn't know that one, how much television coverage there was around nationals. But even for the women's side, I was surprised which I I shouldn't be but I was very pleased that there was TV coverage. I think it's fantastic. I think the more like young girls can have access to seeing, you know women play on a highly competitive level is only going to be beneficial for the country down the road. We're trying to qualify internationally as a country for the Olympics. I think this is where it starts you like these are where the dreams start right?

5:14  
Women still have a mountain to climb regarding the gender gap in pay and prestige. However, with the likes of Serena Williams and NBA coach Becky Herman leading the way, the end goal is starting to seem extremely achievable.

5:27  
{Song}Light catches my eye...