I’m fully aware of the significance of my own exception in HEMA as a woman of colour in a leadership position. Ever since i joined I’ve been railing against the leaky pipeline. I only discovered today that it has a name.
Key Aspects of the Leaky Pipeline:
• Continuous Loss: The term “pipeline” describes the typical fencing career progression: from beginner, to student, to instructor and/or competitor, and the “leakiness” signifies that women are leaving the path at multiple stages, unlike men.
• Gender Gap: This loss results in a significant gender gap, with a disproportionately small number of women holding senior positions.
• Transitions: Significant numbers of women leave HEMA at key transition points, such as moving from beginner to student or from student to instructor roles.
• Contributing Factors: Reasons for women leaving include:
• Domestic Responsibilities: The burden of domestic duties can disproportionately affect women, leading to breaks or exits.
• Lack of Support and Mentorship:Inadequate support systems and limited opportunities for advancement contribute to women’s departure from HEMA.
• Culture and Biases:Negative stereotypes about women’s competence, lack of appropriate policies, and the presence of toxic environments (including sexual harassment) play a role in women leaving HEMA.
• Work-Life Balance Issues: Maintaining a healthy work-life balance can be challenging, leading women to opt out of demanding hobbies.
These factors highlight why we can’t treat everybody the same. I’ve started organising monthly meet ups specifically to deal with the lack of support for URG fencers. Let’s face it, if we had gender parity in HEMA classes it wouldn’t be necessary. So taking affirmative action is one way to address the leaks.
Representation matters, and I fully believe that seeing women and URG fencers, and in particular instructors, makes all the difference in a non male deciding to join a club.
What else could we do as a community?
