‘A long way to go’: Ron MacLean, Tara Slone on women in sports

Sports is still a male dominated industry, but big names are speaking out to break down barriers.

Tara Slone, former singer in the band Joydrop, sits alongside Ron MacLean every Sunday and hosts Hometown Hockey. While she is not the first woman to work in sports media, she is extremely outspoken on the lack of equal opportunities for women in sports jobs.

“I think we’ve got a long way to go but I certainly didn’t have anyone that looked like me when I was my daughter’s age,” said Slone. Her daughter is 10.

“I’m really happy that my daughter can turn on a hockey broadcast and see Chris Simpson or see myself. That’s huge. That didn’t happen for quite a long time, but the landscape has changed. I wouldn’t say there’s exact equity yet. We still have to keep levelling the playing field and unfortunately sometimes that means having to prove ourselves a little bit more, but we’ll do it.”

Slone isn’t alone in advocating for women to take up more space in the sports world. Her colleague and co-host Ron MacLean is equally as passionate about the topic.

“All diversity and inclusion represent another point of view, another source of wisdom,” said MacLean, recognizing his co-host as a pioneer paving the way for women in sports.

“In the case of Rogers Hometown Hockey, obviously from the beginning Tara Slone has been an anchor and a real inspiration to broadcasters to women in hockey to see that a national network show is hosted by a woman so brilliantly,” said MacLean.

For MacLean, the turning point for women being taken seriously in sports was the Battle of the Sexes in 1973, a tennis exhibition between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.

“It began to give legitimacy to the women’s tennis tour,” said MacLean. “Now when Bianca Andreescu wins the US Open, there’s no doubt about how talented she is. But Billie Jean back in 73, had to kind of prove [her] medal.”

For MacLean, having a female co-host allows for female culture in sports to be discussed.

“It’s necessary to have Tara to say to me, Ron, my experience is different than yours on certain levels, and that automatically elevates the conversation and it elevates the learning gap,” said MacLean.

With files from Garrett Fodor.