SAFA Skysailor Magazine

34 SKY SAILOR March-April-May | AUTUMN 2026 Psychologically, our sport doesn’t fit traditional gender expectations. Women aren’t always encouraged or expected to be bold, independent, selfish with their time, or risk-taking. Paragliding requires all of that. You leave home at short notice, you might be gone all day, and you priori- tise weather over everything else. Physically, the equipment isn’t designed for women. Wings are built for the ‘typical’ male pilot, then scaled down. But you can’t just shrink something and expect it to behave the same. Smaller, lighter pilots often manage wings that don’t quite fly as intended. There’s also the cultural side. Most pilots are still men, and in Australia it can be less common for men and women to build purely platonic friendships the way I was used to in Europe. I personally enjoy mixed groups and have had some great male mentors, flying partners and friends. When the gender balance is heavily skewed, though, it can feel isolating, partic- ularly if you’re one of only a few women in a club or at a site and would value having more female peers around you. What advice would you give new pilots? Don’t give up! Being a PG2 is hard. You always need supervision, you’re limited in the conditions you can comfortably fly, and progression can be frustratingly slow. But it does get easier. Find your people. If you’ve got a good crew around you, you’ll learn faster and enjoy it more. If you feel stuck, reach out. Talk to your local club, your SSO, or contact me. Whether you need to debrief something, get in the air, or just talk it through, most problems can be solved with a conversation. What about experienced pilots? Women in Flight: Stefanie Becker