Global Survey of Women in Sailing

The World Sailing Trust has launched a global survey on women in sailing, looking at trends within sailing and the wider industry around gender disparity. The Strategic Review looks at increasing gender diversity across the sport. As a public document, published on the World Sailing Trust’s website, it will provide recommendations and actions for change.

The first step in this process is the survey. It will explore sailing participation trends by gender. The survey is available here. Everyone is encouraged to participate, as the project endeavors to gather views from across the community.

The results of the survey plus research into global best practice will form the basis of recommendations and actions to support women and girls across all areas of the sport.

Dee Caffari, chair of the World Sailing Trust, commented, “We want to understand more about women and girls in sailing: what attracts them, what puts them off, why they drop out, the perceived and real barriers to participation that they might face, and how this varies across countries, ages, classes and competition and different elements of the sport — racing vs recreational vs officials. To complement this knowledge we also want to understand how women’s and girls’ participation could be increased. We strongly encourage the whole sailing and marine community to participate in the survey and tell their own story.”

Set up in 2018 by World Sailing, the World Sailing Trust focuses on marine health, access and youth pathways.

The Strategic Review is being led by Victoria Low, and she and the team are keen to hear more from any individual with an interest in this area, and would encourage them to get in touch directly at [email protected].

The initial findings of the Strategic Review will be presented to World Sailing’s stakeholders — class associations, Member National Authorities (such as US Sailing) and committee members — at World Sailing’s annual conference in Bermuda this October. Further insight will be presented to the wider sailing and marine community at the Yacht Racing Forum in November.