What are the barriers preventing female participation in skiing and how

can we overcome them?

Lucy Hall

Senior project advisor: Ashley Carruth

Abstract

Women have been victims of sexisim forever. Although women have made major strides in
gaining equality there is more to be done. Sexisim holds females back in everything from the
workplace to participating in sports. In my paper I dig into the research of what are the
boundaries holding women back in sports and skiing specifically, trying to figure out why
exactly the number of female athletes is less than male athletes. Through my research I found
that the main barriers for women in skiing are embedded sexisim meaning slurs, comments and
views of women and also media coverage including magazine coverage, movies, and social
media. The research used came from personal blogs of people telling their stories of sexisim to
studies completed looking into sexisit slurs.

12th Grade Humanities

Animas High School
April 1, 2021
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 Part 1: Introduction

The fight for equal rights has been going on since 1923 (History.com). Since then women still

have had less opportunity and have had to fight for their rights in order to be seen and heard. As

we continue to change as a society gender gaps start to become more apparent in places where

maybe they were not as important as before, sports is one of these places. In competitive and

recreational sports only 25% of women participate compared to 43% of men who participate

(The gender pay gap: why aren't more women playing sport?). Now, you have to keep in mind

that this statistic includes all sports including the five most frequently offered sports for women

which are basketball, cross country, soccer, volleyball and softball (The gender pay gap: why

aren't more women playing sport?). In extreme sports, skiing is one area of where the gap

between males and females has become clear. From support and coverage in the media to

embedded slurs and sexsism on the slopes, girls have been pushed down in the sport of skiing.

The skiing community has started to really see a lot of growth in numbers and skill throughout

the years but in order to see a full change athletes and companies/organizations need to be able

to understand clearly, and start to demolish the barriers that have held back the women's ski

industry for years. The two main barriers of female participation in skiing are , media coverage

and embedded sexisim.

Part 2:

Skiing began and grew to be a male dominated sport. In the 1760’s, skiing turned from just

transportation into contests held by the Norwegian Army which “involved skiing down slopes,

around trees, and across level snowfields all while shooting” Suemedha Sood writes in an article

titled “Where did Skiing Come From”. As armies around the world at the time were men only,

women were not introduced to the sport when it first began. Dani Reyes-Acosta writes,

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“Patriarchy—a social system assigning leadership, authority, privilege, and control to those

fitting the traditional male archetype—determined how the story of skiing (as well as the rest of

Western civilization) unfolded”. With the beginning of skiing starting from the war, and females

not having the opportunity to be a part of the sport, the long line of male dominise began.

Fast forward a few generations to when women were starting to become part of the ski

industry. Women were starting to be seen in the competitive side of skiing but only a small

percentage of them. In the 1924 Olympics there were a total of 248 athletes, but only 11 of these

athletes were female, and all of those female athletes were figure skaters. The authors of “5

Fearless and Inspiring Women Skiers and Snowboarders” explains that about 24 years later the

first female alpine ski race was added to the olympics and . “Sclunegger becomes the first

women's downhill winner”(Olympic official web). Years later athletes such as Lindsey Vohn,

Janica Kostelic, Vreni Scheider and Hanni Wenzel started to make a path for all women skiers in

the present and future by winning numerous gold in the olympic games starting in the 2000.

As Alpine skiing started to grow as a sport, another type of skiing was becoming

more popular, Free ride skiing. Free ride skiing consists of no real set guidelines, no rules just

‘free’. “Freeriding is a form of skiing or snowboarding on open terrain, away from groomed

slopes” writes Laetita in her article named ‘Freeriding: everything you need to know’. As resorts

started to build lifts higher and higher up this side of skiing began to increase (Laetita). In 1996

Shane Mcconkey founded a type of free skiing competition called IFSA (international free ski

and snowboard association) (Free skiers.org). There is a large gap here too between the number

of male participants vs the number of females.

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 Although the women did start to make their debut in the Olympics and into the ski

industry, there are still barriers women are facing today in order to become a part of the

community.

Part 3:

Part Three is an analysis of the research done on what specifically the barriers to women

participation in sport comes from. It will start with covering “exposure to role models” including

how women portrayed in the media affects younger generations and also how important it is to

have role models in your life. Part three will then go on to talk about the idea of Embeded

sexisim and how sexisist slurs, comments and views have affected generations of women and

what needs to change in order to dis-embredit sexism from skiing.

Exposure to role models:

Having a role model in your life gives you goals, purpose, and something to work for. Everyone

has people they look up to or aspire to be whether it's related to a career path, lifestyle or

anything one person is doing that makes another think “wow, I would like to do/be that”.

In female skiing, for young girls and older female athletes there seems to be a lack of

exposure to these said role models. In “4 Reasons Female Mentorship Is Important” Katie Main

provides more context on the absence of female role models as she writes, ,“Though we are

starting to see numbers evening out at junior levels within organizations there is still an

incredible imbalance of women in leadership at the executive level. When women enter the

workplace they should have examples to look up to, as well as mentors to advocate for their

advancement.” Just as how in the workplace women need other females to look up to, skiing is

just the same. Young and old females athletes need that sense of community and safe space that

comes with having multiple women in a setting. Despite women needing women, Looking at the

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executive levels of workplace women represent only 24 percent of congress, less than 9 percent

of that is colored women, in the medical field women represent 40 percent of all physicians and

surgeons but only 16 percent of women are given the job of permanent medical school dean (The

Women's Leadership Gap). Legal, academic and financial professionals are the same, Women

make up a good percentage of the field in general but when it comes to the high ranking

positions, those are held by men.

In the ski industry this shift of power, although still has a long way to come, is a focus of

change for a lot of the larger ski corporations and areas. For instance ‘Vail Resorts’ who own 37

ski resorts all across the United States (SnowBrains), have made great strides to level out their

board rooms for better female representation. In fact,

In November 2018, Vail Resorts was named a “Champion of Change” by the Colorado

Women’s Chamber of Commerce for advancing women in a male-dominated industry.

And a third of both the Vail Resorts board of Directors and the Company’s Executive

Committee are women. All of this is a big deal on the business level and no doubt trickles

down into the ski experience, including supporting female skiers and their families on the

slopes. (Women Are Transforming The Ski Industry On The Slopes And In The

Boardroom)

This switch in power is important to not only allow other women to feel more confident

in the workplace because it is not male driven but having women in higher boardroom jobs in the

ski industry will help with the spread of mentorship and role models throughout the industry.

Similarly to leadership positions, female representation in media whether that be tv,

movies, articles or just pictures on the interweb has a huge impact on younger generations’

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self-image and interests. The way that female athletes have been portrayed to previous

generations of adolescents is either wrong or not at all.

Research clearly shows that women are not only underrepresented in the media, but that

the media is far more likely to sexualize women than men in their coverage. The University of

Missouri conducted a study to analyze 109 sport magazine covers to determine if “the media will

focus on their physical attractiveness/sexualization or on their sport related activities and

accomplishments''. The study found that only 11.9% of athletes featured on the covers were

women and out of these women more often than not between 2012-2016 these athletes were

posed not in team uniform, but dressed in scantily clothing and possessed in a sexulisted position

(Frisby 27). In the sport of skiing specifically you will find that quite often a male is featured on

the cover of magazines and or if there is a woman she is not represented in action of skiing but a

lot of times posing on the side lines. Oaks-Ash stresses that too many times have professional

athletes' skills been overlooked because of their beauty, and sponsorship dollars go to them

because of their feminin looks and characteristics. She also discusses how females have kind of

given in to this because it's easy for them to make more money this way even though it's not

what they spend their whole lives training for. She goes on to give an example of a young

professional athlete named Jen Hudak who experienced this sexualization first hand: “Jen Hudak

is a former world champion halfpipe skier, she battled it out on a regular basis with the late Sarah

Burke for the queen of the halfpipe status across elite competitions around the world. Yet, at the

age of 17 she was asked by Freeskier to pose in a bikini in a bubble bath in a story that was

supposed to be about her skiing” (4). If women like Jen are featured like this instead of for their

talents and achievements in skiing, it will convey the message that women only need to be

featured in this way.

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 This is only one example of women being sexulized in the media for skiing. In the 2015

Freeskier “Gear Guide” the model who was female was dressed in all lingerie with the ski gear

over the top but still showing mostly skin and barely the jackets themselves. The models were

also shown laying in a sexual way with the skis they were selling (fig. 1). Representing females

in this very sexulized manner changes the way that they are now seen in the public eye. Instead

of being represented and known by their skills and talents for their sports, they are now shown

off to the world in a sexulised way. If younger generations are viewing their role models as

sexual objects it has a very poor self reflection for younger generations. According\ too, an APA

task force report, "The consequences of the sexualization of girls in media today are very real

and are likely to be a negative influence on girls' healthy development". The report goes on to

give numerous examples of the effects from cognitive and emotional consequences, mental and

physical health, and sexual development. The main link between all is that sexulisation can cause

cofidence problems and problems with self image leading to eating disorders and depression.

"As a society, we need to replace all of these sexualized images with ones showing girls in

positive settings--ones that show the uniqueness and competence of girls, The goal should be to

deliver messages to all adolescents--boys and girls--that lead to healthy sexual development."

(APA task force report)

In addition to magazine coverage, women in sports experience inferior coverage by the

film industry as well. Every year prior to the next ski season ski movies are released to get the

general skiing community stoked about the upcoming season. Almost every year people walk out

of the theater saying “Yeah it was awesome, but where were all of the women”. Jenny Wiegand

writes in “Another Year Another Batch of Male Dominated Ski Films” that “Level 1, the

production company founded by Josh Berman that has produced annual feature-length ski films

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for the past 20 years, has a history of including only one woman—Tatum Monod—in a cast that

regularly exceeds 10 athletes” Ski Films inspire the public more than anything else out there.

They carry the stoke and everyone is always eager to see what the next film a large ski company

will put out is. Having films with little to no female representation creates a sort of norm that

women aren't seen skiing and that they aren't sending tricks or skiing as hard as the men.

Wiegand also mentions the confusing stance which Matchstick Production is taking with the

female movement after being one of the first companies to release a film which featured an equal

number of female and male skiers, to then the next year release yet another film with zero female

representatives. Haggerty points out this contradiction, “[MSP] made a strong statement in 2018

with All In. It was applauded, celebrated, and shared by female outdoor influencers. We were

excited to see MSP lead the way in representation and equality. This sends a message of

reversing that course. It’s confusing to say the least”(Weigand) having young kids grow up

watching these productions with no female representative will send the wrong messages to them.

Until recently, larger companies like Matchstick Productions and Teton Gravity Research

(TGR), have not been showing female support in the large movies. However,smaller film

companies have started booming with ladies shred edits and getting larger companies attention

for the movies. One example in particular is a group of ladies who call themselves “The

Blondes''. Freeskier magazine introduces the group of girls as “the raw, irreverent, all-female ski

crew, The Blondes”. The group of ladies is made up by three 21-24 year old ladies out of

revelstoke, who started their debut by posting on platforms such as instagram and facebook.

The blondes then made a comment explaining who they are and how they came to be.

The three of us found each other amongst some of the best of times, during the

ebbs and flows of the winter highs. We realized that we could all ski at a similar

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 level and challenged one another to push it — so we naturally decided to combine

forces. It started mostly as a joke. Yet because of the current demand for

something like us in the industry, it blossomed. We received a lot of positive

feedback from people in town and professionals that we look up to. I think the

industry was calling out for somebody to challenge the male dynamic and we just

happened to be in the right place for it. (Stanway)

The blondes now have acquired 14.4 thousand followers on instagram (their main source

of promotion) as well as 5 major companies who have taken them under their wing and

sponsored them including Valley Retreat, Atomic, Smith, The North Face, and Mons Royale

(information taken from their direct instagram, ‘the_blondes_’). The group of girls have also

been noticed by Matchstick productions and featured in their latest film ‘Huck Yeah!’.

Besides the blondes, many female organizations have started to pop up all around the ski

industry, helping inspire the younger generations as well as discontinue the past sexisim the

media has been known to show. The change is starting to happen, yet more needs to be done.

Embedded Sexism:

Not only will the biased media create an unhealthy image of female skiers in adolescent

and adult heads but the overlooked embeded sexisim (unconscious bias of gender) in our

everyday lives will do the same. For example, sexist comments are made by both genders a lot of

the time and barely get noticed for being ‘sexist’. in an article explanning how sexulizsed

remarks are still so common in the workplace and should no longer be tolerable, Sarah Bean

writes,“A new survey has found that well over three quarters of women (81 percent) have been

victims of sexist jokes at work”. She goes on to note that men are also affected by sexualized

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comments but the statistic isn't nearly as high as it is for women who are affected. Sexualized

comments stem from the past when women had less rights and were not given the same

opportunities as men. In this day and age the comments have been so embedded into our society

that it is now almost a norm.

Janet S. Fink writes an article with the same general idea as Bean but he ties the idea of

sexisim in the work place to sexisim in sport. TFink begins with talking about the unique form in

sport sexisim takes on: “Discrimination is not disseapering but instead its become more subtle

and ambiguos”(2). Meaning that discrimination in sexism has become something we are all just

kind of used to. Fink goes on to say that society has strongly embedded stereotypical beliefs

about how women and men should behave that sexisim has become institutionalized and has

become so entrenched that it goes on without barely being recognized (Fink 2). It's the more

subtle comments that go pretty much unnoticed. Comments like “you throw like a girl” have in

the moment no harm but beneath the surface it is clear how it is not appropriate and pushes

females down, finks state this as “not even registering that it was discriminatory”(Fink 3). On the

other hand Fink gives examples of a lot larger of public sexism towards women:

In March of this year, Manchester United fans chanted, “Get your tits out for the lads”

over and over again as Chelsea’s club doctor Eva Carneiro walked past. In fact, they chanted

even more obscene things that I will not mention. No stewards intervened to make them stop, nor

did any other fans. No punishment was ever given although footage of the perpetrators exists

(Gibson).

Large sexisist remarks like this are seen as a joke, and quite frankly if a woman in that

time would have stood up and said something about it you would guess that she would be

disregarded and told to take a joke.

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 in order to start the fix of the way that females are viewed and portrayed the female

industry needs to start taking back some of these slurs as their own in order to help young girls

and women alike feel a sense of empowerment that will provide the confidence critical to

participating in all sorts of societal spheres. “The Power of Reclaiming Controversial Terms' 'is

an article written in a dictionary. Com explains a phenomenon known as linguistic reclamation, a

means by which people wrest back power over the words once used to hold them down. By

saying the words out loud, printing them on t-shirts, cross-stitching them to create kitschy decor,

by using these words to describe themselves, the idea is that some pejoratives can somehow be

reversed and reclaimed.” For example, Kathleen Hanna, the lead singer of a feminist punk band

called Bikini Kill is said to have written the word ‘slut’ across the middle of her stomach while

performing in front of an audience in the 1990s (Dictionary.com 1) . by doing this she “dared

people to challenge her right to use the word”(Dictionary.com p1and became one of the

countless woman to turn the word slut from a sexisit slang of “obsesive desire” to a word that

can now be used in a powerful and fun way to “celebrate and promote women’s

liberation”(Dictionary.com p1. Now by saying this it is not meant that anyone can go around

calling a female a ‘slut’ because they think “hey I'm just lifting up woman” but instead it is

meant in a way that women can use this term to talk about themselves and other women in a

powerful and uplifting way.

Another good example of a group of ladies reclaiming the word slut is in a newly found

company named ‘Slut Strand Society’. Slut Strand Society is an apperal company that makes

everything from hats to stickers to sweatshirts, and they are also a large feminist movment

company for the female ski indestry. ‘Slut strands’ in the ski industry are known to be the little

pieces of hair girls stick out of their helmets when skiing to show that they are a girl. On the slut

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strand society website they have a very clear definition on their homepage which is “Slut Strand

(N.) :Two strands of hair commonly used by the ladies of skiing & snowboarding to express

femininity under all dat gear. No, they do not make someone a slut. And no, we do not support

slut shaming. They are of comparable importance to your bindings themselves, a true staple to

the lifestyle. We’re here to embrace 'em.” The company along with selling clothing created a

blog of which women can talk about “why they slut strand” meaning why they support the term

and what the term means to them.

We slut strand because they give us femininity in the male dominated ski world. We slut

strand because they make us feel confident, cute, and determined on the slopes. We slut strand

because they connect us the lady ski community, everywhere we go. We slut strand because we

feel most at home with two strands of hair hanging out of our helmet, flying through the air,

doing what we do best. We slut strand because being a girl is badass. (The Ladies of Novia “why

i slut strand”)

Taking back sexisit slurs like ‘slut’ and ‘you ski like a girl’ has been a huge power

movement for the ladies of the ski industry for the past several years, many companies have

joined the movement by making t shirts quoting ‘ski like a girl’ and also creating ski days for

woman to get out there and ‘ski like a girl’ all together.

Part 4:

Today society has seen a large change in sexisim. We are involved and set records in

sports, are in high power positions in our government, and have all the same rights as men do.

Nevertheless, sexisim is still apparent in today's society. Sexisim especially makes its way into

our sports. In Skiing the information presented above concludes that there are 2 main categories

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of boundaries. These include access to role models, and embedded sexisim within the sport.

Within these two categories you will find barriers like embracing femininity and women in

power.

As an industry we have started to make great strides on finding solutions to these barriers.

As you start to become more invested in skiing you will start to notice that men and women and

start to see the strength women have for the film industry. We still have a long way to go though.

If we want our younger female generations to grow up with no doubt in their mind that they too

can be great skiers and athletes we need to make sure that our female athletes are represented

equally. Not just in magazines and movies but in youtube clips and social media especially. Apps

like instagram and snapchat have begun to control the thoughts and actions of young generations,

not to mention this is the way a lot of athletes are getting noticed. Yet you still don't see the

ladies on the larger accounts like drink butter or level 1. Changing the dynamic of females in the

movies is a step in the correct direction but in order to really see a change we need to change the

face of social media as well and recognize both genders as equal. There are so many ladies out

there doing amazing things with skiing, you just have to dig a little bit deeper for it. Let's not

make the young girls trying to find a role model dig for it, let's have it right there ready for them

whenever they want it.

Embedded sexisim will be around for a long time, and not just in sports. We are seeing

the switch start to happen but it is called embedded sexisim for a reason. Starting to criticize the

smaller sexist sayings and actions will definitely start to change the way people go about talking

about females in sports but in order to really see a change girls, women and even the boys need

to start to really embrace femininity. Be proud to ‘ski like a girl’, reach out to other ladies and

form those all girl ski groups, and especially show the hype to girls that the men are out there

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showing towards each other. Women are usually seen in the background because men take the

stage with their stoke levels and inspiration, but let's change that. Even if you aren't throwing

down as hard as the boys or skiing the same lines, that doesn't make you any less of a role model

or someone that can share the stoke and passion to other skiers be they male or female.

Extreme skiing is a new competitive sport. In the research done to find the barriers it

became clear that although there is research done, there is still a lot more room for more. The

statistics are there for other forms of skiing including alpine and freestyle but when it comes to

big mountains or extreme skiing the questions still stand. And yes you can make assumptions

and connections between the two and even form connections between all extreme sports and

skiing but when it really comes down to it, more research to find out what is making the gender

gap so apparent is needed for the future. And it will come, as all things grow the more attention it

grabs and the more people it excites. As an industry we just need to make sure that as the future

of this sport comes, The girls are a part of it just as much as the guys are!

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