WORLD SAILING TRUST, GENDER BALANCE, AND DIVERSITY IN YACHT RACING BY DEBORAH WALLACE Lockdown in Australia doesn’t mean that we can’t think about initiatives in our world of sailing, visualise and continue the conversation on how to build a stronger gender balance and more diversity, and how little changes could be introduced to enable future success. Going back to December 2019, the World Sailing Trust published the results of their world survey, a comprehensive report on Women in Sailing, outlining their findings in a Strategic Review. At the time of release, Dee Caffari was the Chair of the World Sailing and I reference her comments: “If we want our sport to progress and move forward then we need to consider fifty percent of the population otherwise we are going to be left behind. This is for all of us to take forward into the future with a collaborative and cohesive approach to make the sport stronger.”
You can use this as a foundation to start a conversation at your club. You can read the Women in Sailing Strategic Review here: h t t p s : / / w w w. s a i l i n g. o r g / news/89534.php#.YRhknogzbIU Well before this report, conversations were
being held worldwide, at international level and club level, on how diversity and gender balance can be addressed. Encouragingly, in 2017-2018 The Volvo Ocean Race (now The Ocean Race) led by example. This major ocean race introduced a gender crew mix for the race. This initiative clearly set the stage for change and a clear pathway for women into one of the world’s most challenges races. This was a great start, although as with any new initiative it had its critics. Jump forward to 2021, three years down the track and the Ocean Race, SailGP, and National Sailing League have clear racing rules in place embracing mixed crew competition (these may not be the only ones, but these are top of mind for me). This enables girls and women to set themselves clear goals, and shows if they work hard, focus, and develop skills, they can achieve their dreams and follow in the footsteps of some incredible women who have been an integral part of laying the foundation and are currently competing at the highest level. It’s a clear indication that diversity is important to the sport.
THE OCEAN RACE, SAILGP, AND THE NATIONAL SAILING LEAGUE THE OCEAN RACE 2022 will start from SisterShip 52
