I actually think that the percentage of women in the hobby itself _has_
grown much closer to that of the men. It is just the percentage of women
that we see as active members of hobby-related organisations (such as
this list) is still quite low.
I think we have a problem here with the number of women getting active in areas that appear to have been male dominated - not just fish clubs, I notice the same thing with computer clubs. I often wonder if they just can't be bothered putting up with the
agro or politicking that can go along with some of these clubs especially at the committee level. After all, the reason for joining a club is probably to further your knowledge of a pleasurable subject? So to get caught up in the unpleasant aspects of c
lub life does not further that goal (perhaps these women are a lot smarter than the blokes)..
I don't pretend to suggest that there is some reason females can't perform these (committee) roles as well as men. I know that in many cases this is quite untrue. We have in Brisbane an organisation that looks after those Sick-lid fishes, which was for
many years a bastion of the old boys club. It now has a very capable and enthusiastic president Jodie-lea Matheson and I think a female secretary as well. Jodie is quite a succesful fish keeper/breeder with many championship certificates under her belt
, and she manages to keep the blokes in line.
As for specifically attracting females, I am not sure that a club can
give recognition to a single sex of its membership (as opposed to the
kind of special recognition that children often get) without practicing,
in a sense, reverse discrimination.
I don't think we should be heading down this path anyway. I'm sure that many people (men and women) when they approach a club would like to feel welcomed, not ostracised, but not to the point where they are put on a pedestal or treated any different to a
ny-one else as it were.
I think it was Cary who wrote:
I think a major problem for anyone joining an aquarium society, is the
view of a group of old timers with in a clique. I really don't think
this is so much a clique, but the group of workers that gets things
done and organized for the club. Often there is so much business to be
handled at the average meeting, that there is little time to greet and
talk to newer members.
In ANGFA Qld we handle this problem by having our general meeting each second month. In the month in between we have the committee meeting. Of course everybody is welcome to attend a committee meeting but as you can imagine it is normally only the COMMI
TTEE <G>. This way we can handle the affairs of the club without boring the wider membership. Also because there is only 6 meetings a year they tend to make more of an effort to come along. Last year we averaged 70 members per meeting (out of 120) but
1996 seems to have seen a fall in numbers down to between 50 and 60.
For a start, lets get some more "big Barrimundis" onto this list and
voicing their opinions. You menfolk may regret this later <;-)> but it
would be a good place to start. I wouldn't have to do so much typing
then, either. :-)
Julie, I see hidden in the list members a c_howe at med.su.oz.au. This would be Chris Howe and of course I'm sure that Effie is there in the background as well, so you are definately not alone ;-}
Regards,
Barry