Last weekend a group of us were watching the Women only Edinburgh 10k televised on British Eurosport and the discussion came up about single gender races.
Now, I understand that this is a good way to increase female participation into sport for those that feel uncomfortable competing with the male element taken out for various reasons, but the debate was on the following question.
Would a men only race be allow to take place without being called discriminatory or having protesters? What is the general consensus on this and whether it would be right or unjust?
Case in point: The Lady Foot Locker has NO men’s shoes or clothing. Yet the Foot Locker has BOTH men’s and women’s shoes and clothing, even though these stores are RIGHT ACROSS THE MALL from each other. I asked the people who worked there if they felt it was a double standard.
I just got blank stares in return.
I’d love to see it, but I doubt it would ever happen.
Pretty much what I thought. Not sure that it would be a commercial success even if it could happen. Our group opinion was that it should be able to go ahead in the interest of equality but felt that reverse discrimination would be the real outcome. That group was an even split between the sexes if anyone were interested.
I was talking to a couple of women who had only done women only races. They were quite surprised when I told them the races I did had both genders racing side by side. They were seriously under the impression that triathlongs were either women only or men only. They then asked me why there were women only races if women had the option to race in any race they wanted. I didn’t have an answer for that.
Actually I’ve been wanting to start this type of thread for a long time. I think women’s races are a pretty dumb idea. I like the idea of beginner-friendly races - my first tri was a Tri For Fun in the Bay Area. But I’m not sure I understand the need for women-only races.
I understand that there are women (ladies) out there that may feel intimidated by men in the same race or who feel scared by having to line up in a mass start with guys 2 or 3 times bigger than them and capable of inflicting (inadvertently) injury. Or who wish to avoid the testosterone slick that we have all seen on the courses.
So I can see that for these people there would be merit to these races.
actually, in triathlon I understand…you just have to see how agressive some guys are in the water to know that women can definitely feel threatened and may want to have a more friendly swim start.
I don’t really see the point for a 10k (even if some starts are also rough, but you are not in the water and it’s less intimidating)
I had a huge argument with a 10k race organiser once about this. Given that I regularly race with (and get beaten by!) women in both tris and running races, I failed to see why there should be 1 gender only events.
I did the race with my partner, and basically dared the guy to throw me out. Sanity prevailed.
With the safety issue I can see where they might be coming from - the intimidation factor is there too.
Not sure where I sit on this now. If having women’s only events gets more women involved, then that surely is a good thing. Complicated issue.
Here is a little history on the Boston Marathon… Since 1897, it was an all male race until recently…
"Roberta Gibb was the first woman to run the full Boston Marathon in 1966. Gibb, who did not run with an official race number during any of the three years (1966-68) that she was the first female finisher, hid in the bushes near the start until the race began. In 1967, Katherine Switzer did not clearly identify herself as a female on the race application and was issued a bib number. B.A.A. officials tried unsuccessfully to physically remove Switzer from the race once she was identified as a woman entrant. At the time of Switzer’s run, the Amateur Athletics Union (A.A.U.) had yet to formally accept participation of women in long distance running. When the A.A.U. permitted its sanctioned marathons (including Boston) to allow women entry in the fall of 1971, Nina Kuscsik’s 1972 B.A.A. victory the following spring made her the first official champion. Eight women started that race and all eight finished. "
I have a picture of a race official trying to shove Switzer off of the course… It looked quite pitiful on the official’s part… I’ll try to get a scan of it from my history book. Imagine getting shoved off of a race course because you are a women. That would piss me off.
well, see Joanna Zeiger after IMBr. Her nose was cut and blue (maybe not broken though). She is a terrific swimmer, is certainly not afraid of a mass start, and had only one guy next to her (Matt Dixon) who hit her (not voluntarily)…you can certainly imagine that someone ‘in the crowd’ of a swim mass start, without JZ’s swimming ability is likely to get quite worried
If I remember right, it was Jock Semple (??) that was trying to tear off her number, not take her out of the race. And a friend of Katherine’s was there and tackle-blocked Jock into the crowd.
Francois, given that this is the land of the feminazis there are as many women only races as open events. It is a real issue here.
I really like racing, and basically there aren’t enough for me to do. But I can’t do the women only ones, 'cos I aint a woman.
So, on the one hand having more people doing races is great, because eventually there should be more races for all. But it still rankles a bit that I can’t do these events because of the presence of an inconvenient chromosome…