Opportunity - International Women's Day
Coach Louise shares her reflections on this symbolic day.
I have countless stories from my dad about his involvement in sport over his lifetime: swimming, surfing, baseball, rugby, tennis… My mother? She mentioned horseback riding: the Icelandic version of going for a ramble. When they were both in their 40s, my father decided to teach my mother how to play tennis. Within two years, she was beating him. He was always athletic, turns out she was an athlete. I often wonder what she could have achieved had she started earlier or even been encouraged to participate in sport at a younger age. In my youth, physical activity was available and it was up to me to take it or leave it. my story isn’t all that different from my mother’s though: I mostly left it. I discovered rowing competitively in my 30s and it quickly became my whole life. Now a coach working with juniors, I always notice the downtick of attendance around school exam time. More striking, however, is that girls are often encouraged to prioritise academics over sport.
So, here we stand on International Women’s Day and almost a quarter the way to the anniversary of Kvennafrídagurinn, which is symbolically around the time that women effectively stopped being paid for their work due to gender pay gaps. In 2023, it was also used to focus on violence against women. You may be wondering what this has to do with rowing: don’t worry, I’ll get there. There is also a gender gap in sports participation. So when we talk about gender equality and feminism it encompasses everything. Just last week, I was asked to donate to a fund at my daughter’s ex-primary school to buy football equipment for the girls: they were only allowed to play when the boys didn’t happen to be using the equipment. Sports is more than physical activity. We know its benefits: mental health, longevity and its secret weapons: confidence, team work, tenacity, connection with others, leadership… Rowing in particular helps with focus and has many medatative qualities. So given all these latent skills, are we under-preparing our girls to compete in the world at large as they grow into women? Let’s give them the opportunity!
Opportunity is both something that can be given and something that can be taken. The insidious undercurrent is of course, it doesn’t matter how many times an opportunity is given if it’s not meaningful. And that’s were the taking of an opportunity comes into play. Our first priority is to make sure that there is equality: men and women and all measures of identity represented. This is no longer controversial though we still struggle to get there. It’s not so much the what: it’s the how. The second, harder to measure, priority is about being heard. In the past, I might have struggled to be at the table, now it is more a question of whether my contribution is being valued or subtly silenced. I have resolved to take more. As a coach, particularly with juniors, my focus shifts: I will not just provide the opportunity. I will also teach them to take and to give. When do you take one for the team? And when do you prioritise yourself? With this point of view, I hope to bring positive change for boys, girls and those who identify as neither.
