|
Jan 2023
11:25am, 30 Jan 2023
20,090 posts
|
larkim
2190 entries for the Nationals Senior Mens 12k race. Only 1060 for the Nationals Senior Women 8k race.
Could they / should they be doing anything to encourage more equal levels of participation?
|
|
Jan 2023
1:22pm, 30 Jan 2023
79,059 posts
|
Gobi
You can't make people run.
My Mrs does a hit of trail jogging but no competitive desire
|
|
Jan 2023
1:30pm, 30 Jan 2023
20,091 posts
|
larkim
That's true (no idea about your Mrs of course, just that you can't make people run). I've had daliances with the "run equal" ideas in the past, and the more I look at it the more I tend to agree with the practicalities which suggest that, despite the "inequality" bit, the current offerings are working for most people, most of the time. And that implies that gradually we might expect either more women to take up XC or fewer men to continue doing it and eventually there will be a closer split of gender taking part without having to specifically engineer anything.
|
|
Jan 2023
1:49pm, 30 Jan 2023
39,438 posts
|
SPR
Can't make people run but it is worth seeing what barriers there are to entry and whether the way sport is delivered to people of all ages is working for men Vs women
|
|
Jan 2023
2:08pm, 30 Jan 2023
79,062 posts
|
Gobi
Entry slip, fill it in , race
No sorry I'd rather not race
Using the Mrs again
Has a full time job and a 7 year old neither of these stop her racing.
She doesn't want to race
|
|
Jan 2023
2:23pm, 30 Jan 2023
39,439 posts
|
SPR
I doubt the XC champs is a cause, more an effect. There's obviously going to be people that don't want to race that run whether male or female but it seems worth looking at whether earlier or current life experience lead to double the numbers of men Vs women and whether anything can be done about it.
|
|
Jan 2023
2:39pm, 30 Jan 2023
20,093 posts
|
larkim
My anecdotal experience has been that post mid-teens, female participation in XC drops off compared to male. As a grossly sexist suggestion to explain this, more girls don't like the thought of getting cold and muddy compared to boys, perhaps, and then this extends into adulthood. Not all girls (and not all boys!), but it's definitely a factor.
That sort of gender stereotyping may decline enormously over the next 10-20 years across a whole range of sports if the massive improvements in visibility of women playing football, rugby, cricket, etc are anything to go by I suppose.
|
|
Jan 2023
3:02pm, 30 Jan 2023
79,065 posts
|
Gobi
Spr - at 52 I can't be arsed to run nationals
|
|
Jan 2023
3:02pm, 30 Jan 2023
39,440 posts
|
SPR
I didn't like the thought of getting cold and muddy until I did one and I'm someone that has always been into sport.
|
|
Jan 2023
3:04pm, 30 Jan 2023
39,441 posts
|
SPR
It will be interesting to see how I find it as a first timer.
|
Fetch Fell Runners
May 2025