Female athletes at 2022 Games only represent 24 per cent of total competitors
Andrea Bundon, an associate professor at the University of British Columbia, studies the Paralympic Games gender gap because of her experience guiding visually-impaired Para-Nordic skiers Courtney Knight (2010) in Whistler and Margarita Gorbounova (2014) in Sochi, Russia.
“They had a strong preference for a female guide,” Bundon said. “Many of the guides are men. The reason being is it’s kind of easier to find a man who is faster than you than to find a woman who is faster than you, but not herself racing.
“I believe I was one of two female guides in Sochi. We’re lining up at the start line, and despite this being a women’s event, there’s a lot of men on the start line. […]