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#1
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It's not that we do a poor job of attracting women to soaring. We do a
lousy job of attracting anyone. So those that find their way to us are really fascinated with the idea of flying, and of flying gliders specifically. And they have the time and money to pursue it. And while, as a father of two ten-year-old girls, I hope we're doing a better job in the U.S. of raising children who are less culturally inhibited and constrained by gender stereotypes than we were, it's undeniable that boys still get a lot more encouragement--both subtle and overt--to jump off tall buildings, ride their bicycles at high rates of speed, and build scale model airplanes than do girls. As one poster commented: when many of today's best soaring pilots were growing up, military and commercial flying was glorified to them but not to young women of similar backgrounds. It's not so terribly different today. Because soaring is an obscure sport done mostly by, let's face it, older men, the social appeal for young women is pretty low. At the same time, many, though by no means all, "older" women (i.e., just for the sake of argument, say 35) are either consumed by career or family or both. And unlike men, who--as they age--tend to accumulate money and discretionary time, women tend to accumulate children and husbands, husbands who expect their wives to raise the family and take care of the house, thus affording the husbands the discretionary time to golf, tinker with cars, fly, or whatever. Many avid male soaring pilots complain about the lack of interest their wives take in their flying (though I am one of the lucky ones in that regard) even while some condescendingly speak of the many ways they can participate...as crews or support persons. Many male pilots fly, and even attend contests, without the support of their wives or families. It's not perfect, but it works. On the other hand, it's hard to imagine your average American husband agreeing to take on all the weekend chores so his wife can spend the day or the weekend at the gliderport. And let's not even talk about the conflict that would ensue when she wants to spend two weeks of her--and potentially his--vacation time at a contest! Look at sports such as skiing, hang gliding, parachuting, soccer, or basketball and you'll find no shortage of young women who enjoy thrilling pursuits, high-stress endeavors, and keen competition. It's attracting those women to soaring that's difficult, just as it is attracting young men. I suspect when we find the answer to this second challenge, we'll be much closer to solving the first. Chip Bearden |
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Have a look at:
http://cab.asso.fr/photos.htm ("beynes girls") You'll see that the situation is no more so desperate in France! (we had a never-heard-of number of young, female and attractive student pilots last year at the Beynes soaring club!) Have a nice flight Jerome |
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