Angling and Sexism

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"And very few women went fishing."

Still do, though over the years I've done my bit to introduce a few of the "little darlings" ("Don't trouble your pretty little head, love...") to our pastime and seen a few of them really p** all over (and -off, seriously) some of the men fishing the same waters at the same time...

my take on this

Why aren't there more women in angling?

Taking the ladies international teams out of the equation how often do you see a woman fishing? Not very often I'll expect, sure there will be some who say "my wife/girlfriend (sometimes both) go fishing with me but on the whole it's rare to see a woman angler.
I'm just guessing here but if I had to put some percentage on the number of women anglers I'd say if 5% of anglers were females then that's being generous.
Maybe some one will tell me the correct figures and I'll have to eat my words.
But why should this be? Well let's look at some reasons.

Women don't like touching maggots (hold the smirks) - well these days there are plenty of other baits out there, boilies, pellets, sweetcorn, all the fake baits, why some anglers these days haven't used maggot or worm for years, in fact I'll bet there are anglers out there who've never seen a maggot outside of the pages of the Angling Times "How to hook a maggot" feature (run 4 times a year).

Then there's the excuse that women don't like handling the fish, they don't like to feel something small and slimy wriggling in their hands, well you'd have thought they'd be used to that!

Another reason given is women don't like to sit around for hours waiting for something to happen - well after spending all those hours watching soaps on TV you'd think they'd be conditioned for this. If this is the case then just erect bargain clothes rail in every swim - women will spend hours hunting for a half price skirt they don't need and it will pass the time until they get a bite.

"It a waste of time - I could be doing other things" - well can't women multitask? We're always being told they can - they could fish and read a book, fish and play with one of those hand held games consuls, fish and watch a DVD, fish and do a crossword - carp angler do all of those - well except the crossword (unless it's one of those with pictures). Any with today's technology in portable, cordless household item a woman could put the rod in a bite alarm and do the ironing whilst she waits for a fish to take the bait (and it will save her having to do it when she gets home).

You can see from my reasonable and well thought out arguments above that women are running out of half decent reasons now - let's move on to the more feeble excuses.

"The clothing is all greens and not very flattering" Well for god's sake love you’re a woman get the needle and cotton out and knock something up and if all else fails- nothing to stop you turning up to the bank side in a nice pair of tight jeans and a low cut top.

"There are no toilets - I'd have to wee behind a bush" Well for a start that's what we men do and another thing you could always go to one of those nice commercials with all the facilities. If you do have to wee behind a bush and are afraid of snakes or creepy crawlies then give me a call and I'll come and watch you whilst you "go" just to make sure everything is ok. and if it's spiders biting your bum you're worried about - you'll hear the dripping of his nose well before he get near you.

"I don't have time to waste coming fishing" - and you think I do - there's football and rugby to watch, pubs to be visited, beer to be drunk - just make time like I do. If you didn't spend so much time "Having your hair done" (a phrase I've near understood, I have mine cut) then you could get a couple of hours fishing in there.

"I'll get all slimy and smell of fish" - well I'm not even going to go there!

No the real reason that more women don't go fishing is we don't want them to!

Men go fishing to get away from their women folk not to have them turn up with them. It give us men a chance to be the "hunter gathers" our ancestors were, and if you're on an overnighter you get the chance to camp out, fish and cook sausages so they are burnt on the outside and raw in the middle without any nagging.

A woman on the bank side can be a distraction to men. A few weeks ago there were about six anglers fishing a lake, happily catching when a bloke of about 20 turned up with his girlfriend of the same age. He chap set up his rod and his girlfriend sat to watch him fish, you could tell all around the lake felt uncomfortable, after about 15 minutes the girlfriend got a bit restless and bent over the bait box - all eyes then fixed on her short skirt - for the next 2 hours every time she moved bites were missed, casts went into trees or the far bank - she brought bad luck to all!

So the next time you see a woman on the bank, look for the poor bloke who's had his day out ruined by some inconsiderate female who insists on going with him.
He'll be the chap looking sheepish, hoping his wife/girlfriend won't shriek like a banshee if some insect lands on her.
He'll be the bloke who's always one of the first to pack up because his other half is "bursting" and needs to go "NOW"
He'll be the chap with the boot of his car covered in plastic sheeting to stop "That smells slime getting everywhere.
He'll be the bloke constantly getting up to untangle, unhook, bait up for his wife.

In truth he'll be the bloody miserable bloke who wishes he'd never said "Go on give fishing a try - you might like it"

No problem with women fishing:wh

Lord Paul of Sheffield said:

So the next time you see a woman on the bank, look for the poor bloke who's had his day out ruined by some inconsiderate female who insists on going with him.
He'll be the chap looking sheepish, hoping his wife/girlfriend won't shriek like a banshee if some insect lands on her.
He'll be the bloke who's always one of the first to pack up because his other half is "bursting" and needs to go "NOW"
He'll be the chap with the boot of his car covered in plastic sheeting to stop "That smells slime getting everywhere.
He'll be the bloke constantly getting up to untangle, unhook, bait up for his wife.

In truth he'll be the bloody miserable bloke who wishes he'd never said "Go on give fishing a try - you might like it"

Click to expand...

Not strictly true M'lud, he's more likely to be:
The one who's had his sandwiches and flask made up for him.
The one who's been bought a stink bag to avoid that "net" odour.
The one who always has a designated driver with him.
The one who doesn't have to rush home for dinner and never gets a b*ll*cking for stopping at the pub on the way back.
The one who is never questioned about how much his Stradic reel cost
And best of all, because she only wants to fish in good weather, the one who knows he won't be expected to be working in the garden every bl**dy week-end in the summer.

There are some draw backs:
The subdued shrieks when hooking maggots & castors
The cost of replacing rod tips ("I only touched it!") and weights, feeders and floats hurled into trees and islands.
The sulks (SHMBO is also known as "Itscatchingnotfishing")

If she reads this thread she may even attend a fish-in, if only to pay her respects M'lud
I believe the line from the film went "be afraid, be very afraid"

My wife goes fishing .And not always with me .Sometimes by herself and sometimes with the grandchildren. She has on occasions packed me off to the tackle shop to get her some stuff and even given me money for it as well .

Today's equivalent of the woman in shorts and turned down waders must be those poor things who agree to be photographed wearing a bikini and uncomfortably holding a big carp for those tawdry calendars that you sometimes see advertised.

I suppose they must sell them or they wouldn't keep making them. It's hard to imagine the mentality. "Look at that fish....phwoar! And look at that woman! Phwoar!"

I've seen a few women fishing and fair play to them. Fishing doesn't take (much) physical strength, so there's no more reason for them not to fish than there is (was) for them not to play football or cricket or other traditionally male sports and passtimes.

Half of people are women and in the USA half of anglers are women. It doesn't stop me having sad fantasies about the fabulous Divas and strikingly good looking lasses all over my Facebook from the USA female angling community. (I SWEAR I didn't start it, they just sort of appeared - well I might have begged one or two to befriend me..)

And also on FB, there are some proper miltant lady anglers, fighting for their rights not to have to pee in the sort of vile pit blokes seem to turn every 'convenience' into. Proper facilities at more commercials wouldn't hurt.

And there's UK female angling celebs, Phoebe Stuart is precociously talented and scarily focussed. Bev Street holds SEVERAL records. A woman named Mags won the Anglers Mail prize of a holiday in France on Kevin Nash's lake. Left carp mad hubby behind and went off to go catch Single Scale!!

And besides, if you don't believe in women in Angling, I'll just say one name to inspire fear and dread of being utterly outfished down the margin - Virginia Rushmer. She fishes more than most!

:thumbs:

Oh, and I visted forty day ticket fisheries this summer for Tactical Briefings on the Anglers Mail and LOTS had couples angling. I would guess as many as 10%, which is still way lower than in the States!

Virginia Rushmer - Anglers Mail.......................Your name's not Bill by any chance

Most if not all the women I know, don't fish for one reason and only one reason.

They don't like fishing.

Why they don't like fishing is probably the same reason the vast majority of males dont like fishing.

Its their Choice

Paul

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