Why we do Snowboard

After watching interviews, live competition and doing my own research, the most important reason for the gap in skill is strategy. There are way less women competing against each other than there are men. This is perfectly shown by the number of participants in the” FIS Snowboard Worldcup 2018 – Slopestyle”. 27 women participated, not even half the number of male participants (56). This means there is a lot less competition between participants. The top female snowboarders win easily by doing a safe run – they don’t want to risk harming themselves or messing up their tricks because they know that they don’t have to. The male competitors on the other hand had to fight tooth and nail to even get into the top 15 – they had to take a lot of risks during their runs. This means that male snowboarders constantly strive to be better, while women’s snowboarding stagnates.

But why aren’t there more female snowboarders? Snowboarding has always been dominated by men ever since it was created – also by men. They control the development of the sport. Snowboarding was heavily influenced by surfing and skateboarding culture – cultures where “masculinity in style, speech, and behaviour generally excel”. Studies found that women and men viewed male snowboarders as “ruder, more irresponsible and noisier than female snowboarders”. Nothing about this sounds welcoming to women. In 2014 women made up only a third of snowboarders, according to a SIA Intelligence Report. Although the number of female snowboarders is increasing, the boarder industry is not making it easy for them. There is barely any research on female snowboarders’ behaviours, habits, and preferences. While sales in snow sports increased to 5.4%, female-specific snowboarding products declined by 3%. All the products available to women are just tweaked versions of the male products, and not in a good way. Stores are full of stereotypical pastel colours, overly sentimental copy, and too-tight clothing. Clothing for snowboarders is supposed to be loose for free range of motion, not so tight so that everyone can clearly see every curve of your body. female-specific snowboarding accessories are still styled by sexism and don't exactly feel like a warm welcome.