This article was written following a survey with 17 female parkour athletes from the UK, North America and Europe, in which they were asked to describe their lived experiences of parkour competitions. What follows is based on their responses.
What has become clear from the survey conducted for this article is that certain parkour organisations do not seem to treat women the same as men. What follows attempts to identify what is happening and what event organisers can focus on to tackle the problem. Some of it may be down to unconscious bias or involuntary exclusion, in which case, it should be relatively straightforward to rectify by 1) becoming aware of it; and 2) taking intentional action to correct it. This shows a willingness to build a parkour community that is inclusive and not just an afterthought.
However, it’s not clear why certain organisations aren’t doing more to encourage participation of women. This could be due to an assumption that parkour will always attract more men and that looking after that demand will provide the main source of income. The irony is that wider industry data shows that women are more likely to spend money on classes and coaching than men. So, if a parkour gym owner is thinking about increasing revenue, this is potentially a market they should tap into far more.
Aside from the obvious fact that it is discrimination not to include or even to undervalue women in marketing, events, classes, etc.
Here are four specific examples recounted by the athletes from their experiences at recent competitions of discrimination towards women (organisation names have been left out).
- At a recent skills competition in North America, the organisers had not even considered that women would show up to their event and had not taken the time to set challenges for a women’s category. So when women did show up, they simply told them to: ‘just do the men's challenges’. This left the women feeling like an afterthought and not a valued part of the event.
- At a competition in Holland, a parent of a 15 year old athlete explained how the speed course was way too high for the stature and strength of most of the young girls competing. Her daughter took part in a competition where, out of the three girls who entered, only her daughter could actually finish the speed course. The other two had to stop half way because they physically couldn’t get up onto one of the obstacles, which was a key check-point.
- The same parent in Holland also noticed that, when the girls were on the podium, the event photographer simply wasn’t present and consequently their podium wasn’t ever posted to social media and the girls never got photos of their experience at the event. This is important because showing girls and women doing parkour in event marketing is really important to increasing participation. Women are much more likely to turn up to events if they see that other women are present.
- Another athlete recounted her experience at a competition in South America where the organiser cut the women’s style category down from a style line to just one trick because they were running short on time. They only let the athletes know 10 minutes before they were due to compete and the female athletes who had spent all weekend preparing their style lines were thoroughly disappointed. They now had to quickly come up with their one trick without any real time to prepare, which made the experience stressful. This experience made them feel like they were not a particularly important part of the event.
There are many more stories of experiences like these that have had a negative impact on female athletes and in some cases have put them off competing altogether. In the responses given by the athletes that were surveyed, there were two factors that came up repeatedly: fear of failure in front of others and feeling like they don’t belong in that space.
Other recurring concerns reported in the survey are listed below.
Course set-up and safety:
- The course is not always safe and clear of hazards like rubbish, water bottles and young kids running across the course during warm up time.
- The set-up is often too tall for teens and shorter women, particularly in style and speed events.
Access to the course:
- Athletes rarely get dedicated training time on the course free from interference.
- There are rarely supervisors present to enforce this.
- There are rarely clear barriers in place to stop people walking across the course during warm up time.
Planning and communication:
- Women often need plenty of advance notice of event dates so they can book time off work and arrange childcare. Announcing dates early can help increase attendance at events and competitions.
Representation and inclusion:
- Women aren’t often involved in the organising, judging, route setting, and commentating of events.
- Photographers are sometimes only focused on the male athletes in the room and forget to turn the camera toward women and under 16s competing. Whilst some photographers may be trying not to put them off or make them feel uncomfortable, women often want to see photos of themselves competing as memories of key events they took part in. Increasing coverage of women and younger athletes would also give event organisers a wider range of images to use when promoting future events.
- Marketing rarely includes images or videos of women from previous events. Visibility directly impacts participation.
Culture and leadership:
- The language used on the microphone is not always inclusive. It has at times been belittling, patronising, sexualising, or has simply failed to acknowledge the women in the room. Comments that make light of or undervalue women’s competitions (even casually) reflect a lack of understanding and can be incredibly off-putting, particularly for younger athletes.
Standards need to be set from the top event organisers, who should take into account these considerations and adapt to create a new norm.
Written by Georgia Donati Clarke
