Mountain biking is a male-dominated sport, and so snapshots of pro riders as a whole are not necessarily representative of how things are going for the smaller population of women within the sport. While women's mountain biking has grown significantly over the last several years, the women's competitive side of the sport is less developed than the men's side of things. In this survey, 61% of the riders were men, while the remaining 39% of those surveyed are women. This article deals specifically with responses from those 77 female pro riders who gave us their thoughts on the state of the sport.
Most Women Want to Race the Same Courses as the Men
The vast majority of women surveyed think that men and women should race on the same courses. Many of them feel that to promote equality and respect for women, it's important to understand that despite physiological differences from men, the professional women in this sport are exceedingly capable and can compete on the same courses as the men.
We did, however, receive one comment from a woman who says women would benefit from having smaller jumps in some competitions. That perspective is interesting, for example looking back to the 2019 Crankworx Whistler Speed & Style event, the first of its kind with a women's category. A strong group of women showed up to throw down - including some household names - but many struggled to carry enough momentum through the course to clear the big jumps, especially in the wind that showed up on the big day. Instead of being able to show off their best tricks, the competition became more about just getting over the jumps. After the event, some competitors said they wished the course design had been more realistic for the current stage of development of women's freeride.
That said, women's mountain biking is evolving quickly as more opportunities are afforded women and the sport develops further. It seems like big jumps and gnarly courses are here to stay, which is exactly what most of the women want.
In response to the statement 'The course should be the same, irrespective of gender,' 53.2% strongly agreed, 35.2% agreed, 10.4% responded neutrally, and 3.9% disagreed. None strongly disagreed.
Female Pros Say There's a Pay Gap
We asked women in the sport whether they think there's a pay for professional female vs. male riders.
More than half the women surveyed responded ‘strongly agree’ to the statement ‘there is a gender pay gap in mountain biking.’ Another 29.9% responded ‘agree,’ putting the total agree answers at 83.1%. 11.7% were neutral, 3.9% disagreed, and 1.3% strongly disagreed.
It seems that many of the pro women we surveyed would like to be valued based on competitive results, rather than on social media followings or other metrics. We saw similar feedback from the men's side of the survey. It's important to acknowledge that the competitive mountain bike scene is subsidized by brands that want to sell their products, and that racers and brands aren't always motivated by the same things. Brands that hire racers to sell things will always be somewhat at odds with racers who feel their only job is to compete, regardless of gender.
A selection of anonymous responses to the question 'How much less do you think you might be paid than an equivalent male rider?
 |
I can only really speak for the DH World Cup scene, but it really depends on where you stand as a racer. I'd say the top maybe 3 women probably do get paid equally to their male equals, but to actually make a living as a woman you have to be a consistent top 5 racer. Whereas in the men's field, I'd estimate that about a top 30 racer can make a living off of racing. Even proportionately, that's a pretty big gap. |
|
I have no idea. There is no communication around this. A topic not allowed to talk about. |
|
The salary of women between rank 5-15 compared to the men's 5-30 might be around 10x smaller... Some women winning World Cup were paid 10k a year at first. It is a huge problem because no one knows how much the other is making! Therefore, women are signed for peanuts because another one will take her place if we step up! I've raced World Cups for over 10 years without any salary. |
|
I think that as a woman I get 50% less maybe even more. |
|
$20,000 less than comparable male. |
|
For starters I don’t get paid at all and I’m sure they would rather look at paying a male over me first. |
The Numbers Say There's a Pay Gap Too
The pay gap is real across all disciplines in mountain biking. Many men in the sport earn more than $100k, but it is much more difficult for women to break out of the $50k-$100k pay bracket - just 1.4% of women surveyed earn more than $100k each year, about 10 times less than the amount of men that do. Similarly, many more women than men earn less than $5000 from mountain biking each year: 32.9% of women responded that they earn less than $5000 each year, compared with 23.4% of men.
Note: The chart and comments above represent all the responses except one, which came from the only rider to tell us they make more than $500k per year from mountain biking. We know that a select few riders in the sport (male and female) do make more than $500k, but since only one shared this information with us, we have decided to exclude them from all charts that break down salary by gender, discipline, or other characteristics that could be used to identify them. In creating this survey, we promised the riders anonymity, and we want to deserve their trust.
It's also worth noting that once a rider reaches a certain level of celebrity, they are able to transcend the mountain bike world a bit and attract sponsors from outside the sport, meaning that the outliers who attain that status are not totally representative of what happens within the bike industry.
The Majority of Women Surveyed Feel They've Have Experienced Sexism In The Sport
It's no secret that mountain biking is still quite male-dominated and, although things are shifting, attitudes toward women in the sport have a long way to go. The numbers here suggest that the majority of female MTB pros feel they've experienced sexism in the sport, while roughly 20% say they have not personally experienced sexism in mountain biking.
In response to the statement ‘I have experienced sexism in the sport of mountain biking,’ the largest contingent of women (35.1%) answered ‘strongly agree,’ while 28.6% responded ‘agree.’
The remaining 38% was divided into 14.3% who responded ‘neutral,’ 18.2% who chose ‘disagree,’ and 3.9% who strongly disagreed.
Interestingly, some who said they had not experienced sexism in the sport did answer that there is a gender pay gap, perhaps suggesting that they feel the pay gap is not inherently the result of sexism.
75% of Women Would Support Legislation to Diversity Teams
One idea that has floated around to help diversity the sport is to require UCI trade teams to include female and/or junior riders. Such legislation would help ensure that fewer women and up-and-coming riders are left out in the cold, so to speak. Such legislation could perhaps also help narrow the pay gap by offering women better sponsorship opportunities.
In response to the statement 'I would support legislation to diversify the professional field. Ie. an elite UCI trade team must have at least 2 of the following: a male, a female and a junior,' 41.6% strongly agreed, 33.8% agreed, 15.6% were neutral, 6.5% disagreed, and 2.6% strongly disagreed.
How can we make the sport more inclusive?
A selection of responses to the question 'What changes would you like to see in mountain biking to make it more inclusive for women?'
|
It’s hard to pin down specific changes that I’d like to see, since it requires a cultural shift more than anything. I’d like to see a shift towards viewing female riders as good riders first and women second - it seems like so many teams get a female rider and are satisfied that they’re good and very supportive of women because they got a token female rider, but then seem hesitant to have another female on the roster. It also pains me to constantly hear female riders being talked about for their looks alone; good and bad. We’re riders, we’re not up on course to give others an opportunity to judge our appearances. |
|
More support, equal pay for the same work. |
|
First off, 20 qualifiers instead of 15 at the races! Maybe not during the pandemic, but before some World Cups had up to 45-50 girls racing. Equal prize money would be cool too. In general I'd like the UCI to stop making things more difficult for privateers. A lot of women racing race as privateers, only a handful have full factory support. |
|
Transparency + equal pay. |
|
Training in A group. |
|
Development teams for women in all disciplines of racing. There seems to be more of this in XC than in enduro or DH. Provide opportunities for younger females to grow as cyclists. As a company, support women not because of their Instagram follower count, but rather what they are doing in the sport. Maybe it is top-level racing or coaching, then as a company use your platforms to share your athlete. Too much weight is on the athlete's shoulders to promote themselves, aka their brand(s). IMO the brands should be doing more to promote their athletes. Showcase your athlete, make a video, get an article posted, set up an event, etc. |
|
Specifically for racing, I’d like to see more women able to qualify for World Cups, I’d like to see it mandatory for teams to have a female in order to support women and help progression and exposure so women as part of MTB is normal. I’d like us to be seen as mountain bikers, who love riding as much as everyone else! |
|
More support. The more support we get and the more welcoming the environment is the more women will show up. With more women out racing then it encourages others to get involved too. |
|
Switching up the schedule for race weekend rather than always building towards the men's event. Male staff such as mechanics etc not treating women like they don't know what they want their bike setup to be. Descriptive words used to describe women that aren't used for men. Not mentioning women's weight or appearance and associating that with predicting their race form. When promoting women's racing, talk about the actual race drama instead of always just talking about inequality (although this obviously needs to be a focal point too). Equal prize money obviously. Equal pay. Standardized contracts regardless of male or female. Lift women up for their achievements in the sport, not their appearance. Less focus on the sex sells angle. |
|
No need to sugar coat women only stuff, I just want to see equality. Both men and women together, riding, racing, promoting, filming, working. Pay equal, offer equal opportunities. |
|
There are a lot of things, but some that come to mind are more equal opportunities & support for events/races/competitions for women (equal pay, comparable events for both men & women, etc). More brand/industry encouragement and support for women (featuring, including, and sponsoring more women). Fewer sexist comments and ideology surrounding women in mountain biking in general. |
https://ift.tt/3uDacSh
Sport
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "6 Key Findings from Female Pro Riders - Pinkbike's State of the Sport Survey - Pinkbike.com"
Post a Comment