The NHL may be heading to Salt Lake City, Utah, but Utah is a state with a troubling record for women's equity and equality. It's a problematic idea to move an NHL team to Utah given the state of the game.
Each year on August 26, known as Women's Equality Day, the results of a study looking at women's equality in each American state is released. For the last eight years, Utah has been named the worst state in the USA for women's equality.
It's an issue for the NHL, who according to reports, is working to move the Arizona Coyotes to Salt Lake City. It's also a problem for a league that continues to dip their toes deeper and deeper into the women's hockey world through the PWHL.
The study showing Utah as the worst place in America for women looks at health and education, political empowerment, and workforce environment. Of the three metrics, Utah was last for women's health and education, and second last in the other two categories. Last in workforce environment was Alabama, while last in political empowerment was Louisiana.
For Utah, the state was not just last, they were in another stratosphere in terms of how far behind the other states they sat. Every state on the list scored between 41.54 and 73.54, except Utah, who scored 19.43.
The current home of the Arizona Coyotes? Arizona finished 22nd in the rankings, 38.28 points ahead of Utah at 57.71, and ninth among states with at least one NHL franchise.
It's not simply one study, it's a spectrum of studies, data, and research supporting the idea that women are not treated as equal in Utah. In an annual report conducted by Utah State University and the Utah Women & Leadership project, they found similar results related to the inequity women face in Utah, along with the dangers women living in the state face. One fact published in the report showed that one in three women in Utah experience domestic violence. When the numbers looked at sexual violence in relationships in Utah compared to the national average, the situation became even more bleak. It's an alarming fact for the NHL, which remains the only major professional league in North America without a domestic violence policy.
When these studies looked at intersectional issues, like how women of color and women who are part of the LGBTQ+ community are treated in Utah, the numbers worsened again. As a separate study reported, there are "significant differences in economic, education, health, and housing outcomes in Utah by race, ethnicity, and sex."
Other findings related to Utah and women show that women in Utah have the second highest rate of depression in the country. Across the board, there are few metrics where women prosper in Utah.
After releasing their Accelerating Diversity & Inclusion report in 2022 which found that 61.86% of workers in the NHL were men, it's a move that will not help the NHL. The league also identified seven dimensions - leadership, education, employment, marketing, partnerships, participation and community engagement - they are targeting to improve. The report mentions women 15 times, most related to club driven programs "focused on BIPOC players, LGBTQ+ players, women and girls, and/or people with disabilities." Very little in the report addressed the NHL's own gender equity gap, or specific programs the NHL will use to address these issues in their workforce, and the systemic issues of sexism, misogyny, and gender based violence related to the sport.
According to the Women's Equality Day report, Utah features the largest income gap between men and women. Utah has the largest gap between men and women in educational attainment, and third largest gap in America in women in executive positions.
In Utah, women earn 30% less than men, 14% higher than the national average. In Utah, 55% of women have experienced direct sexual assault, 13% higher than the national average.
According to the Utah State University report, notable progress for women's rights and equity in Utah "is two, three, or even four decades—generations—away."
From strategic meetings between the NHL, PWHPA, and NWHL, the subsequent report claimed that among NHL representatives, "many felt that the NHL has much to gain by being a part of the growth and success of women’s hockey, which in their opinion would improve brand identity, demonstrate support for inclusion, and support fan base development."
It's a belief focusing not on what the NHL can do for women, but what women can do for the NHL.
While the NHL, and new PWHL are businesses with the purpose of making money through entertainment, which a move to Salt Lake City may accomplish, the league has also committed to bettering the fan, player, and family experience at it relates to improving diversity and fostering inclusion.
Salt Lake City is home to some hockey history of its own for women, with the 2002 Winter Olympics hosted in the city, where Team Canada won their first ever Olympic gold medal. The city also houses a girls hockey program. But the state of the state's treatment of women, is questionable.
With the PWHL partnering with the NHL on many neutral site games, and the promise from PWHL officials of more neutral site and NHL venue games next season, Utah becomes problematic. The PWHL itself is a venue for women's empowerment, but NHL support for the PWHL alongside moving franchises to locations bereft of equity for women sends conflicting messages about equity and diversity. The sport of hockey has traditionally subjugated women and women in hockey, and moving the game to a location where equity for women is decades away, before the NHL does its own work, is not the move the game needs