Kirsten Seeto has written a thought-provoking piece on why she thinks women’s classes in paragliding competition are counter-productive. It’s a great read (plus she wins an award for Best Headline of the Year So Far…)
“The single biggest factor that I think is holding women back from performing better is having a Womens Class. There — I said it.
“People are going to hate me for saying it but I really believe it. Womens Class says that because it is observed that women perform worse than men, generally, that there must be something in the female gender that is a disadvantage when flying.
“Therefore, even if you don’t have urination issues in flight, even if you are blessed with being an above average size woman, even if you a natural risk-assessor then you could still start out believing that you were never going to perform as well as male pilots.
“And you will perform as well as you believe you will.”
