Could there be a connection between women occupying many of the top jobs in Sea to Sky Corridor and the fact that it鈥檚 a sports-dominated region?
Dee Raffo thinks so. To celebrate International Day Of The Girl on Oct. 11 she and some friends have enlisted a group of accomplished, local women to talk about the role sports play in closing the 鈥渃onfidence gap鈥� 鈥� the disparity between confidence men and women display 鈥� that Raffo read about in an article in The Atlantic recently. 聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 not scientific 鈥� this is just me speaking 鈥� but we have so many amazing female leaders here,鈥� Raffo said. 鈥淥ne of the things we all do here is play sports, usually (we have) for a long time. So it鈥檚 kind of funny to see we have strong female powerhouses in a place where sports are being pushed.鈥�
She cites Whistler mayor Nancy Wilhelm-Morden, Tourism Whistler CEO Barrett Fisher as just two examples. Whistler鈥檚 fire chief Sheila Kirkwood is another example. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be a funny event because we鈥檙e preaching to the converted, but it鈥檚 being aware that we live in this place 鈥� the Whistler bubble 鈥� where we have strong female leaders and have sway. We can work to create girls who are ambassadors to take (that message) out in the world where you have to stand up for girls who don鈥檛 have access to what we do.鈥�
Still, even in the ski and snowboard industry, there is progress to be made 鈥� evidenced by the fact that Pretty Faces, an all-girl ski and snowboard film is such a novelty. The film will make its Whistler premiere at the event after the slate of speakers 鈥� including Whistler鈥檚 Suz Graham a freeskier, BASE jumper and wing suiter; Darcy Turenne, a filmmaker and former pro mountain biker from 麻豆社国产and Megan Bulloch, a professor of psychology at Quest University who sits on the board of directors at the Howe Sound Women鈥檚 Centre.
According to the film鈥檚 website, despite the fact that women make up 40 per cent of the skiing population and 30 per cent of the adventure sports film viewership, only 14 per cent of the athletes in major ski films last year were women. 鈥淲e see this as an opportunity to provide an inspiring documentary ski film told from a female鈥檚 perspective to connect with and celebrate skiing鈥檚 female population,鈥� the website said.
For Raffo, who last year put on a similar event featuring the documentary Girl Rising, it was the perfect pick. 鈥淚 was looking for something that would be on par with last year鈥檚 Girl Rising. It was such an amazing film that I was really struggling鈥� I was on Facebook and I saw in my newsfeed this film called Pretty Faces. I was intrigued and had a quick look at the Unicorn Picnic production team that put it on. They鈥檙e pretty amazing unto themselves,鈥� she said.
Last year, the event sold out its screening at the 麻豆社国产Lil鈥檞at Cultural Centre, so organizers added a second showing. This time around they were able to secure the Rainbow Theatre with 255 seats, donated by Tourism Whistler. 鈥淚鈥檓 really hoping we get some guys there,鈥� Raffo said. 鈥淚鈥檓 going to take a realistic guess it will be pretty girl-heavy. We haven鈥檛 gone out there to alienate anybody, but it鈥檚 a discussion for men and women to have.鈥�
Tickets for the Oct. 9 event are $10 at Eventbrite.com by searching Pretty Faces Whistler Premier. All proceeds go towards the Howe Sound Women鈥檚 Centre and One Horizon, an organization that helps girls in Kenya get
an education.
