Is Sailing Sexist?

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bljones

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South Coast Ontario
docksixchronicles.blogspot.com
I recently reviewed a book which got me thinking about the subject.

http://docksixchronicles.blogspot.ca/2013/04/book-reviewsday-tuesday-bad-title.html

Unfortunate title, with some solid information inside...

9781574092820_p0_v1_s260x420.JPG


But the title got me thinking about this, and it made me realize that there are some traditional roles aboard. I posed this question on a board with a heavy North American bias, and the responses were overwhelmingly that "no sailing sin't sexist, it is just that there are some things that women cannot do as well as men because they are the inherently weaker sex, and some jobs require brawn..."

Which led me to wonder how the hell women usually end up on the bow hauling up the anchor while hubby nudges the throttle and turns the wheel.


What do you think, am I off-base and a knee-jerk feminist/apologist, an aquatic Alan Alda so to speak, or is it possible that maybe there is some meat on this bone?

I figured I'd see if my friends across the pond have a different view.
 
I don't see much evidence that sailing is per se sexist or not. What I would say (I'm a sociologist to trade as we say) is that the social roles and relations that appear in a sailing context pretty much reflect the wider societal context. Thus social class, gender and ethnicity all intersect and form the background to the practices that emerge. Our boat, owned by Guardian reading pinkos is a sexism free zone, whereas some of our former neighbours seem to have very specific roles for men and women. Young, pretty women are for example much more likely to adorn the foredeck of a racing boat around here than to be seen behind the whelk or trimming the main.
 
No.

Some Sailors are. This author might be. But sailing is not.
I've taught lots of women to sail who are just as capable and competent as men.
I know women whose sailing resume is much better than mine.
I also know others quite happy to be taken sailing. Same goes for some men.
 
Clare Francis, Jeannie Socrates, Naomi James, Libby Purves, Lynn Pardey, Beth Evans, Annie Hill,Me!

Like life, labels give a bad guide to many things. Sexist? Yes sometimes, some places, some people- just like life really!
 
KenMcCulloch said:
I don't see much evidence that sailing is per se sexist or not. ..........Young, pretty women are for example much more likely to adorn the foredeck of a racing boat around here than to be seen behind the whelk or trimming the main.
Click to expand...

??????
The Token stays on the rails.... never allow anyone to wander around in fantacy land to look pretty
Foredeck needs grunt!!!
 
bljones said:
Which led me to wonder how the hell women usually end up on the bow hauling up the anchor while hubby nudges the throttle and turns the wheel.
Click to expand...

I reckon that the majority of largish boat owners (the boat not the owner) are old enough enough to have grown up in age when the roles of the husband and wife were fairly well defined. Because "being in control" type things were traditionally the husband's job the husband tended to helm - he was probably the one who wanted the boat in the first place. It's unfortunate and very wrong but there's still a lot of women who will automatically look to a man to take over if it looks a bit complicated (mainly to save grief from the man when she gets it understandably wrong). I suspect another reason is because there's quite a few men around who would hate to find to see their partners proven better at it than them.

One thing I have found from both flying and sailing is that women have a better situational awareness and men have a better spatial awareness. Providing she understands what she's supposed to be watching out for a women will be much better at spotting problems, etc. whilst helming or whatever. Working out what to do when you have wind and current to consider as well as prop kick, etc. does seem to come better to men though. Huge generalisations though and most on here will have probably mastered both aspects to an extent (or they wouldn't be on here).
 
It was my other half that dragged me kicking and screaming into sailing in the first place. Since then I've got more into it than she is, but when we sail two-up it's always made sense for six-foot, 12-stone me to haul on anchors, sheets, halyards etc, and calm, competent her to deal with marina 'advice' when med mooring, so I tend to do the muscle work and she does the steering. Cooking and cleaning get shared, although I tend to do nav. Never understood big heavy blokes standing with one finger on the wheel while someone half their size struggles with yanking up a sail. We're both late 40s, so don't think it's a generational thing.
 
I think it is a lot to do with confidence.
It may also be a spatial awareness thing...

Being aware that you are not so sure of your spatial situation saps confidence and inclines one to be hesitant.... which is not a good frame of mind when it comes to steering a boat in tight confines of picking up a mooring.
 
I don't think there is much sexism in sailing, it's just a shame that it is predominantly a male orientated sport - so women sailors seem to come as a bit of a surprise to most. Although I am frequently reminded why sailing may not appeal to the majority of women (just yesterday after a nice day I came home with a hand full of splinters after an encounter with a dodgy pontoon). I have only ever sailed with one bloke that wouldn't let me pull a rope or lift a finger, only for the first few hours (I don't think he had sailed with many competent women)...once he realised I was more than capable (and wasn't worried about breaking a nail) I was granted permission to be a fully functional member of crew, and then everything was down to me! You just can't win sometimes...
 
Ellen MacArthur is tougher than any of us.

But as a 'general rule' - inc about 9 years of full-time teaching RYA courses - men are more likely to 'have a go' in spite of relative inexperience, whereas women are usually more cautious (i.e. sensible!) and sometimes reluctant to, say, skipper a boat for the first time until they have quite a lot more training and experience than the average male.

The result of this is that in, say, mixed racing crews, men end up doing the more daring stuff and women tend to hang back. Of course it's the skipper/instructor who needs to even this out and give everyone opportunities.
 
From the review: "...who really runs a boat... which maybe why a First Mate is often more correctly known as The Admiral"

Sounds familiar. I run the boat and decide on how much sail, when to tack & so on, while the Admiral give the orders about where we're going & what time we need to get there. As Captain, I have overall responsibility for the ship, so I can override these orders if I deem it necessary, but...

As for anchoring and pulling bits of string, the Admiral takes the helm and I do the hard work.
 
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