#Why we should keep the Female 4-way Category
The outstanding performance of the French female 4-way team, winning a silver medal with a 28.6 average Challenge in the Open category at the Bodyflight World has prompted some to suggest we abolish the separate female category. What is startling is that these people seem not to appreciate that this would never have happened without it.
It is only because the French Fly-In Girls have been training so hard (and with some funding) to win the female 4-way World Championships 2016 that they pulled off this stunning performance. As a consequence, a body of opinion would like to remove the very competition that produced this result. Is that not ‘Now we have a chicken, now let’s abolish the egg’ ?!!
I sympathise with the view that a female category should not be necessary. In 1998, I was opposed to its introduction, because I have always competed alongside men and been proud to participate in a sport where this is possible. However, my high theoretical ideals proved to be wrong in practice; I was astonished and delighted to see the brilliant positive effect this category. We now have more women in the sport, performing at a much higher level and greater numbers of women on open teams (figures below). Now some people want to get rid of the category on principle. Before we leap into any action, let’s look at why it was introduced, what it has achieved, and the consequences of removing it.
#Why was it introduced?
The female category is positive discrimination, required where there has been long-term negative discrimination to correct the balance. Our sport was male-dominated for decades (possibly because it evolved out of the military). When I started jumping 30 years ago, women were treated as second rate. Both sexes had the same perception; that women were not as capable as men. They weren’t on top teams, there were hideously few female role models, the UK 4-way trophy bore the inscription ‘4-Man’ (and still does), and we were told we were not mentally suitable (see extract from a textbook of that era).
#How did the female category begin? Solly Williams explains
“August 1997, the World Games in Lahti, Finland, where 5 of the world’s top 4-way teams (plus Finland as host) had been chosen to represent the sport of skydiving to try garner entry into the Olympic games. That’s what the World games are all about; a showcase for sports trying to get Olympic recognition. At a competitors meeting I raised a contentious issue asking whether it was time to have a female category in FS 4way. At the time I was coaching 3 different potential national female teams and felt it was the perfect time to give them a platform in which to express themselves, grow and help advance the sport. Here we were as the “chosen” best 5 teams to represent skydiving as a whole and help get it into the Olympics and we had not one female there. It was a no-brainer.
“The 1999 world meet in Corowa, Australia was the test event for the female category. It was fiercely contested and although it raised some eyebrows the general perception was of positive interest as most skydivers love competition and the new category yielded a fight to the 10th round.“
“2001 became the first official female category event. The rest is history until an all-female team gets second place at the World Challenge in 2016. Yet this same team was fifth in Dubai just a few months ago. There wasn’t one female on the open class podium. Not one. Reminds me of the World Games in Finland back in 1997.”
#Effect of the Female Category
The effect that the female category has had on the sport surely cannot be denied. At the US Nationals the percentage of female competitors has risen from 22% in 2000 to 35% last year. The women’s world champion 4-way average has increased by 80% in fifteen years, compared with 18% in open.
Fifteen years ago, in the UK, the gender ratio on first jump courses was 52% male; 48 % female, as it still is. Yet we only had 12% of women remaining in the sport (source, BPA Membership figures). After the introduction of the female category, and other initiatives such as Brit Chicks and Jump for the Cause, we now see female participation in the BPA at 16% – a 33% increase but still losing a massive number of women – the gender ratio changes from almost equal to 84% men.
The improved performance of female teams has raised the level of skydiving in some countries. In the UK, all-female teams have won the Nationals five times in the last decade, so the open teams have had to raise their game.
Yet, there is still a long way to go. Unless we retain a much more equal gender proportion, the female category should remain. One of the reasons women do not pursue the sport is because they are in the minority. Having female role models attracted more women into 4-way, and retained more in the sport.
“No-one would argue that minorities are worse at X [insert any number of fields here], yet we recognize that history has categorically denied many minorities of the same opportunities as non-minorities… so we introduce affirmative action policies to help level the playing field a bit.”
JaNette Lefkowitz, SDC Rhythm
#What would happen if we abolish the female category?
Let’s consider the consequences of putting the female category down the toilet. Each country could then only send one 4-way team to a World Meet, not two. How would this be beneficial? Teams like GKF4 and the French Fly-in Girls could lose their funding, and their ability to continue to push their own limits. There would be fewer women at World Meets, and I believe we would lower female retention even further.
“I honestly find the whole discussion a little ridiculous. I have no idea what harm the category does and have seen enormous good come from it, so wishing to destroy something so good is mind-blowing. There is no doubt that testosterone helps build strength, which is an advantage men have and – whilst women could just compete in the men’s category – it can be hard to find 3 other women to compete with. The female category is increasing the pool of women, which helps to solve this problem. It seems a great solution – build and grow the number of women in the sport and if an all-female team wants to compete in the open category they can. This does not devalue the female category.”
Kate Stephens, World Champion, VMax & Storm
#Reasons to Keep the Female Category
##1, Role Models and Retention
We see a lot of all-female teams across all of the categories; 18% of the 83 teams at the World Challenge were all-female. It takes 2-4 years for a team to really start showing the performance benefit of training together. Continuing the female category will keep ladies’ teams forming at grass roots, with their own role models and a chance to progress, through their own world-class competition.
Tunnels are feeding in more and more people to skydiving. Retaining more women from the base level intake (tunnels and first jump courses) will keep the sport growing, that’s simple maths. The more women we have in skydiving, the more appealing it is to both women and men. Win-win!
“More women in skydiving are an inspiration to women both in and out of our sport. I remember landing in the center of San Francisco for a demo and lots of women and girls coming up saying they thought skydivers were all men, and how great it was to see women doing this. We don’t just have a responsibility to our sport but to be role models to other women and girls. We need to carefully consider that before we abolish a female category that has demonstrated such success in increasing female retention in our sport and competitors at a high level.”
Kate Stephens, World Champion
##2, Funding and Sponsorship
Undoubtedly, having a female category makes our sport more appealing to external sponsors, particularly in the current climate where the go-getting female is where it’s at. The BPA successfully applied for funding from the Sports Council specifically for female 4-way for a few years, with the goal of World Championship medals (achieved). Yes it’s true some governing bodies have overlooked open teams in favour of funding female teams – but these questionable decisions have to be balanced against the money, interest and sponsors female teams bring to the sport.
##3, Platform to Open 4-way
Almost without exception the women now on national open teams began in the female category, which gave them a platform to develop and demonstrate their skills. Eliana Rodriguez, Julia Foxwell, Laurence Herve – would they have been invited on open teams without showing their skills and nerve in female 4-way? Keeping this category will continue the flow of women onto open teams. There is choice both ways – Lise Aune was one of the first women to medal at open 4-way (bronze, Australia, 1999) and later chose to compete in the female category.
##4, Physiology
Although some women can be competitive with men then there is a strength and weight issue for many females, where it’s hard to find similar sized piece partners because there are so few women competing, and they are outweighed by most males. It’s more demanding to fly a piece with a heavier person, especially when the lighter person is wearing lead. If she looks for female skydivers then she only has about 15% of the pool to choose from. To only have an open category would mean only a small number of women could be competitive.
“How many men have done a 25+ average? How many women? Chances are, there are so few women that you can name them. There has to be a reason for this, and I believe the physical differences are at least part of it. There were reasons that the women’s category was implemented in the first place, and it would be a shame to end it just as the whole point behind it starts to come to fruition. The category has done and would continue to do nothing but good for the sport. It is an opportunity for many women to get to a level that they might have a chance to be considered for the top open teams. It inspires others. It takes nothing away from anyone and the sport is better for it.”
Jen Davidson, Golden Knights Female 4
##5, Future Development
Currently, women are fitting into a man’s world, using suits that are designed more with power than precision in mind. Maybe if we increase the pool of women, they can think outside the box[man!] – for example, developing engineering that relies on mental agility more than power, or using rigs and jumpsuits designed for the female form.
#Reasons to abolish the Female Category
I have yet to hear of any valid reason to abolish the female category. It’s not broken so don’t ‘fix’ it.
Some people talk of ‘sexism’, or ‘inequality’ as though this category is demeaning or suggests that women cannot be competitive. Hopefully this article has explained its purpose is to promote competition, learning and retention in an unequal area.
“So many people, especially women, are so quick to judge the female category as some sort of handout for being the “weaker sex”. People don’t take the time to think it through. They make snap judgements based on big ideals and refuse to budge. I am a firm believer in equality for everyone, every race, creed, religion, gender, whatever. But some people take offense to a female category as if it somehow singles women out and treats them as second-class. I for one embrace my differences. My team and I have been part of some fierce battles in 4way, mostly against the French. Our two teams have pushed each other to excel through this category. We never would be where we are today without it.”
Laura Davis, GKF4
Other dissenters are simply jealous (there, I named the elephant in the room!), perhaps because of funding decisions or feeling it’s not fair that women win a world medal at a lower average. You can always point out unfair situations in any scenario – but surely continuing separate categories is a lot fairer than the alternative? And, on the subject of fairness…
“There is no money for the female prize at this event [the World Challenge]. They train just as hard and professional [as the men], so why is there no money?”
Matthieu Bernier, 4-way and 8-way World Champion
#In Summary
I challenge anyone to come up with a genuine reason to abolish the female 4-way category. I strongly feel it is only good for skydiving. I encourage you to embrace, support and promote it, while being thankful we have so many stellar female skydivers in the sport, and understanding this category will only increase that. The awesome female 4-way world and national medalists take their skills to other areas of skydiving (big-ways, AFF, records, coaching, freeflying), thus expanding the pool of knowledge and increasing the proportion of women across the whole spectrum of the sport.
Anyone is welcome to oppose this view by writing her/his own article, contributing to discussion or voting in the NSL poll…
##Have Your Say!
NSL is running a survey on the female category; you can vote here.
Some words of warning on the results, currently in favor of abolition:
1. Note the biased responses; three to abolish the category and only one to keep it.
2. Just because the majority vote for something, it doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do – look at most governments.
3. The result is currently denouncing the female category, probably because women are under-represented – exactly the problem it’s designed to address!
“I have been to many world meets where the female category yielded more excitement than the open. My forecast for Chicago is the same. The French and US female teams are so even now it’s going to be a close and fierce contest to the end. Question is; why would we not want these teams at World Championships? I just don’t get it. Let’s put aside our personal opinions on this category and simply ask the question – would Nationals/World Meets or any competitions for that matter be more or less fun without the female category?”
Solly Williams, World Champion & Coach
Info-pics and research by Baat Enosh
