Global survey to review women in sailing

The World Sailing Trust, the charitable arm of World Sailing, has launched a global survey on women in sailing, looking at trends within sailing and the wider industry around gender disparity.

Announced on International Women’s Day earlier this year, the Strategic Review, that forms part of the World Sailing Trust’s Access to sailing work, focuses on increasing gender diversity across the sport.

As a public document, published on the World Sailing Trust’s website, it will provide recommendations and actions for partners across the globe looking to be part of this change.

The first step in this process will be the survey that will look at understanding the trends around the gender diversity within sailing. Everyone is encouraged to participate as the project is looking to gather views from across the community. To access the survey, click here.

The results of the survey will be combined with research into global best practice, to form a series of recommendations and a program of work to support women and girls across all areas of the sport.

“We want to understand more about women and girls in sailing,” notes Dee Caffari, Chair of the World Sailing Trust. “We want to learn what attracts them, what puts them off, why they drop out, the perceived and real barriers to participation that they might face and how this varies across countries, ages, classes and competition, and different elements of the sport – racing vs recreational vs officials.

“To compliment this knowledge we also want to understand how women and girls’ participation could be increased and we strongly encourage the whole sailing and marine community to participate in the survey and tell their own story.”

Set up in 2018 by World Sailing, the World Sailing Trust has three areas of work which are closely linked – marine health, access, and youth pathways.

Andrew Pindar OBE DL, a long-time supporter of women in sailing, is generously supporting the strategic review with the aim of examining the disparities, understanding why they exist, and recommending what can be done to improve the balance.

The Strategic Review is being led by Victoria Low, and she and the team are keen to hear more from any individual with an interest in this area, and would encourage them to get in touch direct at Victoria.low@worldsailingtrust.org.

The initial findings of the Strategic Review will be presented to World Sailing’s stakeholders – Class Associations, Member National Authorities, and Committee members – at World Sailing’s 2019 Annual Conference in Bermuda by Victoria Low and Hannah Goldie, the Trust’s Head of Fundraising, this October. Further insight will be delivered to the wider sailing and marine community at the Yacht Racing Forum in November.