Snow community gender gap - does it exist?

By Kiera Elliot-PickettWhat do you get when you ask a passionate group of Australian skiers and snowboarders whether they think there is a “gender gap” in the snow community?The short answer is, over 300 comments and a heated discussion in mere hours, but who decides if there is a gender gap?We took the question to Facebook groups and forums to see who has experienced a male vs female dynamic in the snow community, and exactly what has contributed to them feeling whether there is or there isn’t. Firstly, we asked if there is a general assumption that males are the dominant gender in the industry, particularly when it comes to involvement, marketing, apparel/equipment, ability or skill level? The consensus was - yes! So, let’s start with the stats!The Australian snow season last year, as we all know, was complete rubbish with COVID and hardly a dump (the total opposite to this season - yew!), so let’s look at the 2019 involvement numbers from Mount Buller and Falls Creek."In 2019 the Woolcott survey told us that females were 44% of visitors to Falls Creek AND 56% male. A fairly even split really", says Sarah Watt, Director of Marketing & Communications, Falls Creek Resort. While Mount Buller Resort indicated the majority of visitors to be female, "Our latest data indicates around 56% of our resort visitors are female", reports Rhylla Morgan, Buller Communications. Falls Creek Visitors Mt Buller Visitors Surprising?Well, in three Facebook groups, we took a poll – how many males vs females ski and/or snowboard. In a total of 1232 participants – 638 were male, and 594 were female. Females took out the majority win for skiing with a total of 419 vs males who ski, 365. Snowboarding proved to be slightly more popular amongst men with 210 votes vs women, 179. So, where does this assumption that there are more males in the community than females, stem from? Skiers Snowboarders Apparently, one of the contributing factors comes from the lack of women’s apparel and equipment – a gap recognised by both males and females participating in this conversation.Walking into a snow store is one of the first points of contact you have in the industry; buying or hiring gear, chains, or purchasing a lift-pass. And, as you look around, more often than not, half (or more) of the shop is displaying male equipment and apparel, giving an immediate impression that the community and industry is skewed towards men. Ok, there is a limitation or shortage of women’s apparel available, would you call that a “gender gap”? We dug deeper to find out why there might be such a limited range. “It’s not personal, it’s economics”. In a report published by Grand View Research in 2019, that analyzed market size, share and trends reported the global snow sports apparel market size was valued at USD 2.4 billion (approx. AUD 3.3 billion) in 2018. Of that, the men segment led the market and generated a revenue of USD 1.5 billion (AUD 2.04 billion).When you look at sales figures and retail predictions, males gear is the clear headliner of revenue, so, is there is demand for female gear, at all? But - how can true sales be determined, and market trends predicted when manufacturers don’t know whether the skis purchased, or outer-wear is, in fact, purchased by a man or a woman?It’s clear from the discussion, women feel (and most men agreed) there is definitely a gender gap when it comes to equipment and apparel. And they’d like to see it closed. What if we removed the gender labels altogether? boards and skis were unisex? Should there be a gender label on boards and skis, at all? Would this solve the “gender gap” issue?Are existing brands complacent? Would it not make more sense to focus on where the category can significantly grow and adapt?Professional abilities Which leads us to the last impressions of marketing; A controversially popular subject, gender pay gap in competition which follows through to marketing.Despite comments on the mountain, such as “ski like a girl” having a negative connotation – suggesting men have a greater ability to ski or snowboard; Olympic Skier, Greta Small is living proof that this is simply a generalisation. Or, if we look at it from another angle, quite the compliment.“The biggest gender gap I see at ALL levels of competition from World Cup down to FIS races in Australia is the Race Jury’s risk assessment when course conditions are poor”, says Greta, “I’ve been at multiple races where males and females are racing on the same slope and course, the men’s competition gets cancelled as the slope or weather conditions are considered “too dangerous”, while the women’s race goes ahead in the poor conditions”, she continues. “The decision making behind this is that women are on less aggressive skis than the men, and they are “lighter” therefore not producing the same power making it “not as dangerous” - I know myself I am producing as much power on my skis and am heavier than some of the males.”