Inclusivity UBC Recreation

Gender Identity & Expression

UBC strives to build a respectful and welcoming environment for all participants to enhance well-being, participation and a sense of community on campus through opportunities in Athletics and Recreation. We, acknowledge gender identity and gender expression as a spectrum. We support every participant’s right to assess and note their own gender in which to participate and/or compete in our programs. If a person is gender non-conforming or gender expansive, they can participate in any program or in any category that they feel is right for them.We request that any individual who wishes to participate in UBC Recreation program and would like to request adaptations, additional resources or a discussion about their concerns, contact a Program Manager as soon as possible. The earlier you connect with us about these accommodations, the better we can make your experience.

Sample Programs

Building a Respectful and Welcoming Environment in Recreation

We revisited our Intramurals Participation Structure policies in an effort to improve the inclusivity of our programs. There are different team categories that depend on the gender expression and identity compositions of a team. We have updated the names and descriptions of these different categories to better describe the competition environments in each. For specific details on these different team categories, please review our Intramural Team Structure Guidelines.

Facility Features: Change Rooms

  • The UBC Aquatic Centre offers a universal change room for everyone. Includes private change cubicles and private washroom and shower stalls as well as lockers.
  • It allows participants to share the common amenities while having a private space to change and also provides parents the ability to bring children of all genders in the common room.
  • It is also intended for people with disabilities who have an attendant of different gender.
  •  2 single-user washrooms (including 1 with a baby change table) that are large enough to change in are located on the first floor, near the BirdCoop Fitness Centre entrance, very close to the other main change rooms.
  • These do not include shower facilities.
  • The ARC offers a universal change area room which includes 11 private change cubicles (including 1 with a baby change table), and 5 private washrooms (including 1 accessible) and 8 individual shower stalls (including 1 accessible) as well as lockers.
  • Three single-user change rooms with showers are available
  • One is located directly beside the Proshop, labelled R1. The other two are labelled R3 & R4, which are on the south side of the Protrans arena at ice-level.
  • Three single-user change rooms with showers are available
  • These do not include shower facilities
  • 1 single-user washroom is located at the Gerald McGavin Rugby Centre, which is large enough to change in, but does not have a shower
  • There is also one single-user washroom in the Old Rugby Pavillion in the Southeast locker room
  • There is one universal washroom on the lower level that can accommodate changing, but there is no shower.
  • Storage is available in the gendered change rooms on the upper level
  • There are two single-user washrooms which have room to change in.
  • These do not include shower facilities
  • There are 2 staff change rooms (one located in the Women's public change room and one located down the north wing hallway - both on the ground level) that can be used as gender neutral change rooms and spaces.
  • Both options have washroom and shower facilities and are lockable for privacy.
  • There is 1 single user washroom which is spacious enough to change in. It is located on the east side of the building.
  • It does not include shower facilities.

Resources

  • Our Intramural Leagues staff have worked hard to change the structure of our Leagues, shifting away from the traditional gender binary. Check out this visual for a full breakdown of the new team structure.
  • Unfortunately our registration system requires gender to be indicated and it is currently unable to offer other gender options beyond the binary (male or female).
  • We sincerely apologize for our current registration system and its limitations, as we hope to change to a new system in early 2018. The new system will allow us to better recognize the diversity of our community.

After a participant has registered for a program, we ask that participants stick to what they have filled out as part of the registration process. We do recognize, however, that gender is fluid and can change from day-to-day, so we will do our best to accommodate any changes after registration upon special request. In order to make a special request, you should connect directly with the Program Manager. Please note that it can be problematic for us to implement these changes with late notice simply due to scheduling and organizing the events/programs but we will do our best to accommodate your request.

Still have questions?

The Gender Unicorn Diagram
The Gender Unicorn is a graphic designed by Trans Student Educational Resource (TSER) to help support people’s learning when it comes to understanding the complexities of gender identity, gender expression and sex assigned at birth. The main takeaway is that many of us have misunderstandings about gender identity, gender expression and sex assigned at birth. Gender and sex are often incorrectly used interchangeably and falsely understood as a binary (man and woman; male and female). Actually gender identity and gender expression is much more diverse and can be better conceptualized as spectrums. For more information about terminology and additional resources please check out the Positive Space website.

Resources on Gender Identity & Expression

UBC’s Positive Space website
Terms of Reference on Positive Space website
Trans Student Educational Resource (TSER)
www.equity.ubc.ca

Contact & Feedback Form

Should you have any questions about inclusivity or feedback about how we can make our programs more inclusive, please fill out the form below, or contact physical.activity@ubc.ca

Inclusivity & Accessibility Feedback Form

Feedback and comments for inclusivity at UBC Recreation
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