Why are there less women running/ doing triathlons than men?

Pisco Sour

Since I've started running last year I've been wondering about this. Every 5km, 10km and Half Marathon race I have ran have had more men take part than women. This trend is even more pronounced when it comes to Triathlons. The last one I did had around 5 times more men taking part than women :eek: Why is this the case?

colblimp

Because Men are better than Wimmin? :eek:;):p

(Hides behind sofa and waits for torrent of abuse!)

googlehead

colblimp wrote: »

Because Men are better than Wimmin? :eek:;):p

(Hides behind sofa and waits for torrent of abuse!)

That's really sexist, they probably have loads of ironing to do and
don't have time for Triathlons

gerard65

Women are still playing catch up. Theres alot more women in races now than 20 years ago. When I was in my teens you'd mainly only have young women running races, after the age of 20years most would quit, get married, have babies. The days of been tied to the kitchen sink is gone (almost). I would'nt be surprised if you'll see an equal amount or more women competing over the next 10/15 yrs.

tunguska

Thats a hard one to answer as Im not a woman. But I know us men are brought up to compete in sports(I know thats a generalisation but in my experience its true). When I was growing up I didnt know one guy who wasnt involved in sports. We all played football, GAA, Rugby or took part in athletics etc. This was pretty much every day and during the summer when there was no school, it was all day every day. So we were kind of bred for it.
It wasnt that way for the girls though. Yes there were some who did gymnastics or athletics but they were definitely in the minority. When we were up in the field playing football I have no idea what the girls did.
So I think its just one of those things, people are put into categories based on their sex. A friend of mine plays football and shes pretty decent but her father wont go watch her play because he doesnt believe women should play football.
I think this situation describes life in general. Everybody would like to believe theyre liberal and open minded but when it comes right down to it life and society as a whole likes people to fit into neat categories. Theres a lot of peer pressure involved aswell, women being put under pressure by other women to get married, have babies etc. And competing in sports is viewed as selfish or less worthwhile when compared with starting a family.

goofygirl

It's the opposite here in Canada actually, races tend to have far more women than men in them. So I suppose it's just a culturally specific thing in Ireland.

hunnymonster

There are two angles to this problem (and it is a problem) unfortunately women still do the majority of the house work and child minding in the home (even though we now work as many out of the home hours as men) meaning there is less time to take part in sport. Secondly, women prefer to diet themseles into shape, men prefer to sweat themselves fit. I would love to figure out why this is.

HardyEustace

This is a generalisation but I think it would hold true in a lot of cases.

The majority of people in Ireland tend to start triathlon in their thirties. It's fairly expensive sport so tends to attract people with a certain amount of disposable income. Statistics show that women with higher disposable incomes, and a higher level of education (though the two are not mutually inclusive) tend to have babies later so your thirties is basically baby time and thus might not be ideal for starting a new sport which can be very time consuming.

Blueskye

HardyEustace wrote: »

This is a generalisation but I think it would hold true in a lot of cases.

The majority of people in Ireland tend to start triathlon in their thirties. It's fairly expensive sport so tends to attract people with a certain amount of disposable income. Statistics show that women with higher disposable incomes, and a higher level of education (though the two are not mutually inclusive) tend to have babies later so your thirties is basically baby time and thus might not be ideal for starting a new sport which can be very time consuming.

+1
I am in my early thirties and most of my female friends are in the midst of baby-making and child-rearing and have absolutely zero time to devote to training, particularly for triathlons. Quite a few single girls I know have recently gotten involved in either running or tris which is interesting.

I was quite a fast runner in primary school but was definitely not encouraged to participate in sport at secondary school which is a real pity I think. I wish now I had gotten into sport much earlier as I am really loving running now.

colblimp

hunnymonster wrote: »

There are two angles to this, fortunately women, quite rightly, still do the majority of the house work and child minding in the home, meaning there is less time to take part in sport. Secondly, women prefer to diet themselves into shape, men prefer to sweat themselves fit. I would love to figure out why this is.

There, fixed that for you. :D:p

TFBubendorfer

colblimp wrote: »

There, fixed that for you. :D:p

I probably should stay out of this, but ...

colblimp, two sexist comments in one thread are more than enough. You think it's funny, I don't.

Mods, feel free to delete this if you feel so inclined ...

--amadeus--

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

I probably should stay out of this, but ...

colblimp, two sexist comments in one thread are more than enough. You think it's funny, I don't.

Mods, feel free to delete this if you feel so inclined ...

It's a fine line - banter is ok but we don't tolerate prejudice in any shape or form.

So I'm going to leave the comments unless ColB asks for them to be removed and I don't think anyone is intending to offend but can we be serious from now on?

scottreynolds

Blueskye wrote: »

+1
I am in my early thirties and most of my female friends are in the midst of baby-making and child-rearing and have absolutely zero time to devote to training, particularly for triathlons. Quite a few single girls I know have recently gotten involved in either running or tris which is interesting.

I was quite a fast runner in primary school but was definitely not encouraged to participate in sport at secondary school which is a real pity I think. I wish now I had gotten into sport much earlier as I am really loving running now.

I don't want to discount the 'child rearing' argument, My wife and I have a young baby, however this doesn't explain the general 20 something's females not taking part in triathlons etc. I'd really love to figure out why, at around 13-15, there's such a drop off in sports participation so we could sort it.


I read somewhere that Physologically men prefer 'doing' and women prefer 'talking'. So basically when men are together they will do something, watch tv drink etc, whereas women would rather around a gathering to 'swap' stories.

tunney

--amadeus-- wrote: »

It's a fine line - banter is ok but we don't tolerate prejudice in any shape or form.

So I'm going to leave the comments unless ColB asks for them to be removed and I don't think anyone is intending to offend but can we be serious from now
on?

Very much OT but:

I'd have to object to any objections over these comments.

Other comments on the thread are equally sexist albeit in the non-traditional direction. (women do more housework etc etc)

--amadeus--

Objection noted.

HM - as the only female Mod I hearby hand all control and responsibility for this thread to you while I go and do something manly, like hunt a mammoth or paint my nails...

hunnymonster

There is a big distinction between saying
The reality is that in most homes, women do the majority of the housework and saying
that women should be doing most of the housework.
Just because it's the reality, doesn't make it right or an appropriate point of view to hold.

tunney

Actually its really hard to answer this question without gross generalisations or sexism.

Rusty Cogs 08

I'm surprised this thread is getting the discourse it is. If there was a marked majority of women undertaking triathlons over men then that might be an interesting fact. As is, triathlons are like most other sports in that the majority of participants are male. There are a minority of sports that are skewed towards female participation for whatever reason (net ball, synchronised swimming) and some sports that seem to have a balance of both sexes (golf, horse riding) but generally, in the majority of sports, men make up the majority and triathlon is one of those sports.

Why men make up the majority of most sports is probably a question with an answer that can be applied to triathlons. Personally, I think men are hard wired to compete, as we don't have to chase animals (for food) anymore we satiate this need by following or engaging in sport.

I'm not saying there are not competitive females (or non competitive males) but generally men are drawn to sport for that reason, even if it's only to compete against themselves.

hunnymonster

I agree Tunney but generalisations based on observable facts/research are valid. There are always exceptions, our own Woddle, for example, who is a stay at home dad who runs while his wife (works) and doesn't run.

Dr Watson

Maybe women don't buy into resource intensive triathlon like the A,B, C1 20-40 something men looking for something new to challenge them...

hunnymonster

I've done a bit of reading on this topic. No work has been done in the Irish (or even the UK) as far as I can see. In other countries, the conclussion is that it is a social conditioning problem rather than a genetics one. Leaving aside (for another day) the religious aspect in islamic countries, most of the other papers I've found seem to suggest that men are encouraged into team sports as adolescents and women not so much. It is this participation in teams that makes men more sporty than women in general with a crossover into individual sports later on. This would appear to be borne out by the Boardsies, where quite a few of the men have said at one time or another "I used to do GAA/Football/Rugby but now run a bit".

robinph

Blueskye wrote: »

I am in my early thirties and most of my female friends are in the midst of baby-making and child-rearing and have absolutely zero time to devote to training, particularly for triathlons. Quite a few single girls I know have recently gotten involved in either running or tris which is interesting.

I have a friend who is in the middle of the "baby making" stage, but has also taken up tris over the last year or so. It is a pretty sporty family though, but I don't think he does much anymore. As for the single girls taking up running or tris, that is clearly because they want to meet more fit and healthy manly men. :cool:

I'm off to hunt a mammoth with ~amadeus~ now.

Poncherello

many Irish women between 20-30 are too busy boozing to be bothered with triathlons.
many Irish women from 30-40 are too busy chasing husbands/having babies tio be bothered with triathlons.

--amadeus--

There were thousands of women at the Limerick Mini-marathon on Sunday. Yet I would guess that fewer than 500 ran it.

I would imagine that the root of it all is teh motivation for running / tri / training. A lot of the men who race do it to compete and the race is more important than the training or the fringe benefits like weight loss. When I am out running I see a few men out walking dogs but most of the walkers I pass are women "power walking" for exercise. I assume they are motivated by a healthier lifestyle and teh fringe benefits and that competition is the last thing on thier minds. In other words we run as a means to an end (races), they walk as an end in itself.

Turn teh question around - why would a woman run or do a tri when she is getting what she wants from just walking?

robinph wrote: »

I'm off to hunt a mammoth with ~amadeus~ now.

Don't forget to paint your nails first!

Carb

I'd imagine a part of it has to do with participation at a younger age too. I'm 29 now, so say 20 years ago (nearly makes me feel old), when I was starting GAA, ladies football was practically unheard off. You might get one girl that would play on the boy's team but this was rare. This was the same the whole way through school, with the exception that the town had a girls basketball team. I wouldn't have much dealings anymore with people I went to school with, but I know that in some of the recent sporting events locally, the only women I know taking part were those that were involved in sport when younger.

In Dublin and large towns where more clubs/facilities/activities exist, perhaps it is different, but in rural areas, from my experience there was little to entice females to take part in sport. There are exceptions of course. My wife said she use to run in the likes of community games etc, but I don't see any interest from her in getting involved in it again. A lot more girls seem to be getting involved in sports younger now so perhaps we'll see more partcipation in adult events in the future.

MCOS

Funny thread actually!

Anyone got a time machine? Head back a million or so years where dinner was first hunted and descaled before consumption... were things so different then?

My 2c...
Men have mild to intense phobias of burning energy to maintain their own cave.. such as hoovering, ironing, washing the stones etc... and are more likely to be found avoiding such responsibilities playing outside. It doesn't mean they don't love their family, its just that men don't mature much beyond the age of 10.

Women love games too and were probably as effective at hunting dinner when Himself was whining in the cave because dinner bit his arm off... its just that women are mature enough to prioritise life's responsibilities



Just to add, Ireland's only ever Olympic Triathlete was a woman

I'll be outside hunting Mammoth with --amadeus-- and robinph... sounds fun

--amadeus--

I wonder if parents still tend to tailor activities by gender? Thinking of my neighbours one family has all boys and tehy do the GAA thing and a couple have all girls and they do teh dance / drama / horse riding thing.

Funny how habits set early have lifelong affects. Mind you I wasn't at all sporty until after my Inter Cert so you can change

rainbow kirby

My parents tried to push the dance/drama/music thing with me when I was younger. They ended up with a daughter who did martial arts for 12 years

tunney

This "women are having babies so don't do it" is b*ll*cks.

My wife ran for fun (10 milers, halfs, 10ks) she has stopped recently because of "logistical reasons", but she has already set herself the goal of the BUPA 10k and the addidas series of races. She used to cycle as well.

She'd never consider a triathlon though - just doesn't do it for her. Not everybody likes triathlon (and she fcuking hates duathlons)

HardyEustace

Poncherello wrote: »

many Irish women from 30-40 are too busy chasing husbands .... tio be bothered with triathlons.

On the chance that you're not joking, I'd say that this is the most sexist quote of the lot of them.

tunney wrote: »

This "women are having babies so don't do it" is b*ll*cks.

t, with regard to your comment, I don't know if you mean that you haven't encountered this situation a lot or if you mean that women use it as an excuse not to start the sport?

If it's the former, then I'm just going the reasons/excuses I hear from my peers as to why they don't participate in sport. I'm not saying that it's true for all cases but at the same time, it does seem to ring true as a valid reason for a lot of people here.

If it's the latter then I do agree that motivation can be a problem, and yes, it can be used as procrastination or an excuse. One of my friends in the club, who's sister was moaning about not having enough time to exercise with three kids, pointed out that if she gave up watching Coronation street she'd have an extra 3-4 hours (or however long it takes) to exercise each week. Said sister took major offence at this statement and didn't speak to her for a week, so I think this is a fairly classic example of motivation and procrastination.

And I have to say that as someone without kids, I do get a bit frustrated with the "come and worship at the altar of my motherhood" stance that a few friends (thankfully very few) seem to have adopted. It seems like once motherhood comes a calling, it's a general opt-out card for doing anything that you don't really want to do as you're too busy/stressed/upset/tired.

Equally I think that having a lack of participation in sport in their teenage years and thus in their twenties mean that a lot of women simply lack the confidence to start. Then there's also the perception (which was certainly mine) that it was all seven stone, sinewy twiglets who were lashing around the place at sub five minute miles. You only have to look at the success of the fit4life group, which I think does absolutely amazing work, to see that there is a genuine thirst for a healthier lifestyle but people aren't sure how to go about it.

Another problem is that women are more used to a buddy system. When I started in my club two years ago, it meant going along to the first track session knowing absolutely no-one and doing the the whole "erm, are you with the tri club, hi, my name is ...". It did take a bit of confidence and dare I say it, courage/self-belief to go along. A lot of people don't have that in spades. I don't mean to sound like I'm blowing my own trumpet here, but I just know that lots of people have said to me they'd rather eat their own arm then turn up to something on their own.

Woddle

--amadeus-- wrote: »

I wonder if parents still tend to tailor activities by gender?

Not this one anyway, my daughter runs/swims and will be joining the local gaa team this Saturday
I'd love to see them adopt a sport and make it their own for years to come but this is what has already happened in my family, my sister was a damn good gaa player representing Dublin girls and playing for St Johns, now she is 29 and the baby making has kicked in, she is due in November but I reckon after that she'll be looking to get back on the sport wagon.
I believe her success at gaa was down to my mam and dad making us get involved at sports at a young age and not being discriminative in what sport we chose.

Also I don't see the problem with being a home maker, best gig ever. I have never been happier since changing jobs, hours are flexible and I like the people I work with there 4 and 5 and do as I say.

Seres

The local communities and the schools focus very heavily on gaelic football for males , i always felt there wasnt the same level of encouragment to attact girls/young women to take part in sport . If you dont take part in sport at a young age you may be less inclined to need it later on .

hunnymonster

aside: usually when I make a point I have the science/research to back it up. For the following, I've only a "feeling"

Woddle wrote: »

Not this one anyway,

ah, but you've got girls! My feeling is that parents are generally happy to encourage their daughters to take up traditionally male activities (football, engineering, ...) but not so much when their son's adopt traditionally female activities (knitting, ballet, hairdressing...). [/gross generalisation.]

Seres

hunnymonster wrote: »

aside: usually when I make a point I have the science/research to back it up. For the following, I've only a "feeling"

ah, but you've got girls! My feeling is that parents are generally happy to encourage their daughters to take up traditionally male activities (football, engineering, ...) but not so much when their son's adopt traditionally female activities (knitting, ballet, hairdressing...). [/gross generalisation.]

maybe a homophobic thing for some parents on the part of males taking up some female dominated activities , just a thought !

nerraw1111

Maybe they just don't want to.

I know through my social group, yoga and pilates are a much more exciting and social option

Plus you have to ask why men want to run triathlons and would the same reasons be appealing for women?

onimpulse

In my experience for most women now in their 30's participation in sport wasn't just not encouraged it was actually made pretty difficult. (Hockey might be the exception). GAA just stopped for girls when you left primary school & the only sports my secondary school played were hockey & basketball. I was rubbish at both so grew to think I hated sport. (That lasted about 10 years!)


Plus we have the conditioning... In primary school the boys went out to play football while the girls stayed in & were taught how to knit!!! I kid you not... I'm only talking about the mid 80's here. (Even at age 5 I kicked up a stink about that but no good).

asimonov

I know lots of women in their mid-late thirties who have the baby thing done and dusted and are getting into running now. Some of them are fit-for-lifers but for others the big draw is the mass participation half marathons (connemara, achill, dublin, wexford). The half marathon is great intro distance as it is a significant physical challenge yet the training required can be fitted around a busy work / home life.

HardyEustace

nerraw1111 wrote: »

I know through my social group, yoga and pilates are a much more exciting and social option

Reasonable answer: I'm not being smart but why would you think that? I mean just on the social part of it, when you're cycling or running you can chat to people. My experience of yoga and pilates is that you can't chit chat in the middle of it (though I'm open to correction on this). Plus I've gone to yoga and pilates classes on my own and haven't made any friends from it, whereas with the tri club I've made some absolutely brilliant friends. Or in your case is it that you went to yoga and pilates with people you already knew?

Smart arse(tongue firmly in cheek - mouth cheek, not butt check since I'm no good at yoga) answer: yes because raising your right leg five inches while breathing through your left nostril is so fascinating*

*yes, quite aware that someone who is only half-way reasonable at yoga would leave me in a quivering mess after only two minutes, like I said smart arse answer

nerraw1111 wrote: »

Plus you have to ask why men want to run triathlons and would the same reasons be appealing for women?

I can't answer for men but I know that some of the reasons I do them is
1. the challenge
2. the enjoyment
3. goal setting and achievement
4. sociability of being in a club and the support of your "buddy system" in the club

I can't see why my goals would be any different from that of men.

It kind of suggests that women aren't competitive or willing to endure hardship(in the context of training when you want to throw up/go back to bed/ pack the whole sodding lot in - as in "I'm finishing this, fecking the bike into the ditch and I'm never, ever racing again) when this isn't the case at all.

climbhigh

some statistics on the sports women and men participate in, and also reasons for non-participation are available at:
http://www.cso.ie/releasespublications/documents/labour_market/current/qnhssports.pdf

HardyEustace

climbhigh wrote: »

some statistics on the sports women and men participate in, and also reasons for non-participation are available at:
http://www.cso.ie/releasespublications/documents/labour_market/current/qnhssports.pdf

See, they include walking as a sport - now I assume most people define walking as non-T&F walking, just going for a walk. Now, it's a nice past time, it's a nice thing to do but I wouldn't call it a sport.

Then I think it pushes up the female participants up. Therefore, if you omitted walking you'd get a whole new set of figures.

climbhigh

ah but if you carry a few sticks and small white balls with you

the coverage is sports and physical exercise and self-defined. as you say it is easy to refine the analysis by excluding some activities or by requiring certain levels of frequency or intensity of exercise. in terms of health walking has a lot to be said for it even though it may not have the same impact ...

MrCreosote

HardyEustace wrote: »

See, they include walking as a sport - now I assume most people define walking as non-T&F walking, just going for a walk. Now, it's a nice past time, it's a nice thing to do but I wouldn't call it a sport.

Totally agree.
I'd say almost the same for golf. It's not a sport, but it's not a nice pastime either.
The stats look totally different if you take walking out- it's the main form of physical exercise for about 40% of the 63% who actually do any at all.