On International Women’s Day of this year, Anna Paxton and Hetty Key launched an independent research project, Women in Adventure, which aims to increase women’s participation in outdoor adventure, and identify any barriers preventing women from getting involved as much as they would like.
To that end, they are conducting a survey of adventurous women, in order to find out what inspires women to adventure outdoors; to identify any barriers that make it more difficult for women to do so; and to create a network to share inspiration, information, and ideas.
In their own words:
There is no such thing as a typical ‘Woman in Adventure’ – we are all unique.
Our own circle of friends includes all kinds of people – trail runners, rock climbers, mountain bikers – men and women. The outdoors community is vibrant, and we often look to each other for inspiration. We recognise that in seeking role models we can relate to, it is important for us as women to spend time with, and be inspired by, other women.
We know we are not alone. There is a growing movement of women and men across the outdoors industry that want to encourage and enable women to participate, to support them once they enter the outdoors community, and to ensure greater and more representative coverage of women’s achievements.
We want to understand what this might mean in practice – not just based on our own experience, but on the experience of as broad a range of women as possible.
We all have different goals, priorities, and concerns. What is important to one woman is not important to another. Understanding more is the first step to providing whatever it is we need.
Our initial research aims to understand more about the diverse group of people known as ‘Women in Adventure,’ and identify the issues that are really important to you, as described by you.