Is this a male dominated hobby?

i love the fact that my son is just three and snorkells like a demon.

That is SO cool! Thanks for sharing your experiences with us Kam.

James

I taught diving for years as a private instructor who went to people's homes and did the living room thing and then the pool work in their pools. It was usually no more than four people because I felt the ratio of 8:1 with no divemaster was stupid. And as for male or female dominance, I have to say that in most cases the women turned out much stronger divers than the men, and I usually had at least 50/50, but more often than not more women than men in my classes. I have never failed a woman in a scuba class but I did fail two men in my career. Let's face it, women are starting to become more risk takers than in the 60's, 70's and even in the 80's. With Fear Factor and shows like that, we men will probably even out with the women as shared "dominance". Women have different physiological make up than men and endurance between the two sexes is a factor. So the dude makes five dives in a day and the woman makes two. Does that make men more dominent? In my opinion, not at all.

Joe

I don't think the difference in the number of dives a day is that great except for the younger ages. Not that many guys will do 5 dives a day consistently and many girls will do more than 2. Don't see how it matters in any case. Again, men and women in my group are more alike in their abilities than different. Sexism and macho dive behavior are found in cheaper trips and younger age groups.

We don't need ways to divide or differentiate our community. If this is such a "male dominated" area perhaps we should consider what discourages women from participating. Referring to them as "dive chicks" might be one of those things.

From a dive club point of view the whole more males than females thing has been a pet study for a while. In the OW courses we run the ratio is normally 50/50, sometimes as much as 60/40 in the girls favour in some years.

The difference is retention, for various reasons:

-diving is hard work a fair bit of the time, especially here in temperate waters. Females are, in general, less likely to be willing to deal with all the lifting and and pulling associated with it all.

-there's the machismo thing as mentioned, boys and their toys, and the tendency to try and outdo one another on occasion.

-this leads to the next one: being a male dominated sport leads to it being a male dominated sport. Women are less likely to want to be involved in a group that is male dominated

-girls seem much more likely to give up diving if they find a non-diving partner. Guys will either convert their partner, or just sneak off every now and again to go for a dive. In the group of guys I do deep dives with there's an unofficial 'dive widows' group who meets regularly. Some of them dive recreationally, making it easier to find suitable holidays and similar. Yes, there are always exceptions, but of the group of 20 people (about 50/50) I was diving with 10 years ago none of the girls have dived since they found a non-diving partner, and most of the guys still dive somewhere, even if it's only occasionally. I've heard the statement 'oh, I'd never stop diving for a boyfriend' get turned around a few months later so many times it's almost laughable. On the other hand it might take a few months, but the boys normally come wandering back once things have calmed down, either given a leave pass for the weekend, or booking their new lady in for a course.

Over time this leads to a lack of experienced female divers, which is sad, because they definitely make things much more interesting!

This is about numbers of male u/w photographers, NOT their talent level.

Perhaps there are more male u/w photographers because of a mixture of natural selection and training.

I want it

I need it

I cannot live without it

If you loved me you would….

Add beagle eyes, pouting expression, other similar body language

What guy reading this forum has not said these lines…how many time? A dozen, a hundred, hundreds? Before the days of ‘the pill’, there was a much higher probability of guys that were good at these and similar lines being able to reproduce. Over thousands of yrs of this reproduction, we have men that have been naturally selected to be GOOD at these and similar lines. Genetically programmed beggers!

Add the training of yrs using and perfecting these lines during formative periods to this natural selection and you have the perfect specimen for u/w photography.

These same lines (and their cousins) are the one’s the u/w photographer uses over and over to obtain dive gear, camera gear, computer gear, etc. There is no reasonable justification or logic for these purchases. It is begging to obtain a desired outcome, pure and simple. But the women u/w photographers have not had the eons of natural selection nor the previous ‘begging experience’ throughout their formative yrs when compared their male counterparts. Thus perhaps it is far more difficult for the women to obtain the absurd about of gear required to participate in this addiction.

Thus there are more male u/w photographers because it is natural for there to be.

Again, this says NOTHING about the quality of the u/w photographers. My poor work is a perfect example of that fact.

Now, do others see any logic to this argument or am I just blowing bubbles upstream?

Dave

Theres no chauvinists like male chauvinists like those chauvinists I KNOWWWWWWW !!!!

Dive safe (wear a rubber...suit)

Dean(i love the ladies)B

Theres no chauvinists like male chauvinists like those chauvinists I KNOWWWWWWW !!!!

 

Dive safe (wear a rubber...suit)

 

Dean(i love the ladies)B

Rather tame response there. Bopped in when I saw your name and figured you be pointing to some suspect photos around here the last couple of days, and conclude it is neither male nor female dominated

Instead you are singing show tunes.

Instead you are singing show tunes.

I think I prefer DeanB's show tunes to that other cr*p about women ... and I HATE show tunes

I think I prefer DeanB's show tunes to that other cr*p about women ... and I HATE show tunes

Hey Leander sorry we missed you on Jervis Bay weekend before last. Plenty of great lady divers on board Ocean Trek that trip.

cheers

Hey Leander sorry we missed you on Jervis Bay weekend before last. Plenty of great lady divers on board Ocean Trek that trip.

cheers

Hey Darren, yeah sorry too. Hmmm I had a little problem with my boat ... my buddies wanted steering

Heard you had a good weekend?? I hope the vis was kind

generally I think we have a pretty even mix in Jervis Bay ... in fact the girls might just pip the guys ... but none of the other girls are here on wp ...

Rather tame response there. Bopped in when I saw your name and figured you be pointing to some suspect photos around here the last couple of days, and conclude it is neither male nor female dominated

 

Instead you are singing show tunes.

Sorry Drew but Mr Buxton seems to get a bit touchy with me lately (all ths time abroad has affected his sense of humour ) so i thought i'd leave him alone for a while...

Dive safe

Dean (wheres my dinner woman !!! )B