SAFA Skysailor Magazine

43 AUTUMN 2025 | March-April-May SKY SAILOR There is a tendency for women in general, more than men in general, to focus on people other than themselves. This is a well-documented 1 societal issue that is not specific to paragliding and leads to two main barriers for women because they are less likely to: • Take on the risk of paragliding because they are responsible for others e.g. children, and • Prioritise their time and money for para- gliding over caregiving responsibilities. Some barriers are specific to the paragliding community. • Incidents and tolerance of sexism, har- assment and intimidation. Whilst the incidents of poor behaviour from a small number of pilots (during schools, clinics, in rides to launch, on launch itself, in the air, in the landing zone and in online chat groups), does not describe the general behaviour of most pilots, the tolerance or lack of action to address inappropriate behaviour (sometimes referred to as ‘bystander effect’) is more widespread. One consequence of this is that some female pilots (half of those interviewed) 1 See: Bedim, L. A., & Guinan, D. M. (1996). “If I could just be selfish…”: Caregivers’ perceptions of their entitlement to leisure. Leisure Sciences, 18(3), 227–239, and Downing, L. (2019) . Selfish Women (1st ed.) , Routledge, for example. The tendency of women to look after everyone else rather than looking after themselves is a huge barrier in the sport. – Female pilot 2022 Women’s tow safari Photo: Tina Thorburn