why women don't dive?

[LeFlaneur]

I think a woman in my office answered this question indirectly. She told me she'd always wanted to get certified but didn't want to do it if no one would do it with her. On the other hand, my OW class was 4 single men.

You ought to do a survey that asks "Did you get certified alone or with a significant other?" I believe that you will find that the majority of men got certified alone while the majority of women got certified with a husband or boyfriend.

Probably mostly cultural reasons for this. The "loner male" is more acceptable than his female counterpart. Also, we seem to permit men to have expensive frivolous hobbies more than we do women. Beats me why.

 

[gabbriell]

My husband and I (40-somethings), have a lot of friends (40 and 50-somethings) who are couples that scuba dive. On our last trip to Bonair we actually met 5 women who were on a trip without their husbands. They were 50 and 60-somethings!

I used to think skiing was equipment intensive until I took up diving in 1987. And I started in the cold waters of Maine and Massachuetts for my first 8 years! But I've always been the adventurous sort and look forward to sky diving too, some day. But here is the thing...

I always knew I was going to scuba dive, just like I still know I'm going to sky dive. But if my husband hadn't already been a diver when we were dating, I'm not sure he would have been willing to put out the money for both of us to learn and get outfitted after we were married. (The sky diving is just my thing) Sure the tanks, weights, etc. can be heavy (my last trip convinced me to start doing more leg presses), but you spend most of the time in the water (and neutrally buoyant).

When I hear people express fear of sharks, etc. I tell them it is the same as being in the woods and meeting wildlife there - you and the wildlife are both more likely to head in opposite directions than have any problem, unless you tease the bear, pull on the shark's tail, etc. Those same people who express this fear are unlikely to worry much about swimming at a beach. And personally, if something does want to chew on me, I'd rather face-off with it and have a fighting chance than be 2 little, oblivious dangling drumsticks on the surface!

Bottom line - the money is a big commitment. Especially for 20-somethings who may just be starting out. Those 5 women on their Bonair trip weren't in the best of shape, but also weren't going to let their husbands' schedules keep them from doing what they already love - diving. And in our entire trip in Bonair, all the boat dives had more women than men!

 

[ScubaFreak]

Ya know its the same in ireland! Our dive store is located on a big ship and we share it with a windsurfing company and ALL the ladies go next door :15a:

We needs to get more women diving!!

 

[mad]

We needs to get more women diving!!

that's true! but the question is: how can we help them growing?

 

[the_cat_keeper]

Is this a European phenomenon?
Here in Singapore, when we go diving (typically in Malaysia), at least 60% of the divers would be female. I have been on dive trips with as many as 80% female divers.

 

[mad]

so, we'll plan neext holidays to check it out!

 

[jrdivagrl]

Hey i am a 13 yr old female diver! i have learned that for a person to dive they have to want to. i have tried to get so many people to try diving but none of them really want to! do guys that dive like women who dive better then women who dont?

 

[Sue-ba]

In the OW classes I have observed, there are always more women than men. I think in the past, more men certified because men just did not ask the women if they wanted to.
Now, our culture is changing so that women no longer wait around for men to ask them to try something. I think that is a good improvement, don't you?

Here in the desert, the women always outnumber the men diving 4-2 (and someday
5-2). At least, when the "Lips" family is around doing the diving.

 

[divermania]

Eh... I guess i'm one of the few female divers here then. My galfriend is also a diver. She, her husband and I usually go diving with a group and in it, there's women too. So it's about half. My instructor is a woman too.

 

[divemistress]

by threatening to superimpose photos of their heads over the bikini-clad body of Miss Scuba 2004 on your website....



dm

Hi girls!!

In Italy we have only 22% of scuba girls, I don't know in the rest of the world but I suppose the same.

Why your friends don't dive?
do they consider a heavy hobby?
do they think it's dangerous?
do they prefer spending money in other ways?

and the most important question is: how can we make them try?

ciao, Marco