Should a Woman Be Required?
The US Match Racing Championships Committee is considering a proposal to require “at least one female on each team in the 2022 US Match Racing Championship (USMRC) and its Qualifiers.”
The committee would love to hear your opinion on their proposal. Please submit the survey no later than Sunday, December 5, 2021. The USMRCC organizes the Open, Women’s and Youth match racing qualifiers and national championships. The committee will vote on this proposal on Tuesday, December 7.
A similar but different proposal was made in 2016. It wasn’t implemented at that time based in part on survey results — your responses do carry influence. You can write in comments at the end of the brief survey.
The current proposal aligns with the global effort to increase opportunities for women to compete at the highest levels of the sport, including the Olympics and the Volvo Ocean Race. The Intercollegiate Match Racing Championship currently requires at least one female be on each team, as do the US Youth Match Racing Championship (USYMRC) and the Youth Match Racing World Championship.
I personally know plenty of women who could compete against the men and give them a run for their money on their own accord. However, the barriers and stigmas against women in the sport of sailing do still exist and I support the requirement of a female on every boat as a commitment from the organizing authority to begin to level the playing field after years of active discrimination against women in the sport of sailing. There are still yacht clubs that continue the discriminate against women, only allowing women to join if their husbands are already members, and some clubs that exclude women entirely. I appreciate this initiative as a good faith attempt at creating a sport where folks from all backgrounds and genders have equitable opportunities to be successful.
The cutoff for this was November 28th. The committee met December 1st.
This article was too late…
I would be offended and embarrassed at this proposal – there is no discrimination in Yachting ? What’s next – take someone handicapped ? How about animals ? Believe me any girl or woman can get into sailing/racing – they are welcome! This is strictly an interest variable – more men are interested in sailing.
Thank you for saying this, as a women sailor it’s refreshing to hear others share this point. Enough with all this womens nonsense, anyone who wants to sail just launch your boat and go!
Yes women are needed to compete
Sailorette, there were/are two meetings, the last one is on December 7. As far as I can tell, the survey is still open as of Saturday night (I voted on Thursday, so the message I get when I go to check it is “You already took this survey.”) Here’s more from Bill Simon, the chair of the US Match Racing Championships Committee: “We encourage you to take the survey by Sunday, November 28, 2021, if possible so that we can have the most feedback before the December 1 Match Racing Committee meeting and December 7 US Match Racing Championships Committee meeting. If you can’t submit it by November 28, please try to do so no later than Sunday, December 5.”
All the best sailors should compete. Should not be based on gender, but talent.