Gender, transnationalism, and surf camp
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Gender, surfing, and summer camp
If you’ve worked with me recently, you know that I am a big fan of adrienne maree brown’s book Emergent Strategy. One of the principles of Emergent Strategy is a recognition that the large is a reflection of the small. I see this principle in my work when I make a connection between global trends or movements and something that is happening in my personal life and community. Most recently, that connection has to do with my daughters’ summer surf camp.
The background
As background, I recently worked for a client who asked me to review the findings and implications of a surf therapy program for young people in South Africa. The organization running the program (not my client), Waves for Change, had recently completed a gender assessment in order to better understand how gender norms were influencing the recruitment of girls’ and boys’ into their program and their participation once they were in it.
The findings from the gender assessment revealed numerous ways that gender biases and stereotypes were hindering girls’ participation in the program. The teachers and parents who referred youth to the program assumed surfing was a ‘boys sport’, and so they referred more boys than girls. Gender also influenced the program coaches, who tended to treat girls differently than boys, had lower expectations for what they could achieve, and were more likely to let girls (and not boys) sit on the beach or use boogie boards instead of surf boards. The female counselors were also more likely to lead the social-emotional aspects of the camp whereas the male counselors were more likely to lead the surfing instruction, reproducing gender stereotypes about emotions (i.e., something for girls) and surfing (i.e., something for boys).
The connection
Obviously, surfing programs for youth are not unique to South Africa. This summer, I put my two elementary-aged daughters in a surf camp in the West Coast of the United States. On the first day of camp, they never went in the water. They said it was because they didn’t have the right wetsuits. We found the right wetsuits for them for Day 2, and they went in the water. On Day 3, I stayed a little while after dropping them off to observe from far away. I noticed many of the children who were in the water appeared to be boys – of course, this is an assumption based on what I could infer about their gender from looking at them from far away. I saw some girls playing in the shore and I saw my girls, still not wearing their wetsuits, playing in the sand with girl counselors.
It could be that my kids just don’t like surfing. And I never asked the camp if they address gender bias in their program, nor did I do anything but observe for a few minutes, so they certainly could be aware of and addressing it. Still, this experience got me thinking about the findings from the Waves for Change gender assessment. After all, sexism in the surfing sport is a global phenomenon.
The disconnect
My observation led me to questions. Why is it that these two initiatives share a common association with the United States, and yet still seem so disconnected? Why is it that US-funded initiatives to promote gender equality in other countries appear dissimilar from any US-funded initiatives to promote gender equality within its own borders?
I have my theories, of course. I don’t think this is simply an unfortunate byproduct of siloed systems. I believe this disconnect is intentional. Not only does it keep transnational movements divided, but it ultimately serves the purpose of perpetuating the myth of American exceptionalism and helps to maintain US global supremacy. It reminds me of Lila Abu-Lughod’s 2002 article, “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving?” where she pointed out that, by focusing attention on gender inequality in other countries, the US government can not only perpetuate the colonial myth that those countries need our help, but also that gender inequality and patriarchy within the US is not significant enough to address.
I am fascinated by patterns that connect the local with the global, the personal with the political. And yet they always remind me of how much work we have to do.
What questions does this raise for you? Let me know what you think.
More about Waves for Change
If you want to know more about Waves for Change, check out their website. You can also read the case study I wrote about their gender assessment in here. I also used an abridged version of this case study in Cynara’s Gender Specialist Bootcamp training. I really like it because it shows the small ways gender biases add up to create systemic gender gaps and how a simple assessment can identify practical ways a program can change to counter these gaps.
Have you heard of Thrivers on the Move?
Thrivers on the Move is a new non-profit organization that provides free career development support for female immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa who live in the USA and are survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.
Founded by my friend and colleague, Sara Abdel, Thrivers on the Move is currently accepting applicants for their fall training cohort starting in September 2021 with expert therapist and licensed career counselor, Janet Glover-Kerkvliet. Please join me in sharing the application with individuals and groups who may be interested.
Note: the first version of this post mistakenly said that the US promotes gender INequality. While that point could be argued, that was a typo, and I meant to say “gender equality”.
About Cynara
Cynara is a small woman-owned consulting and facilitation firm.
We work toward feminist visions of justice and prosperity as facilitators, advocates, trainers, researchers, and connectors who believe in building collective power through local and global partnerships to transform institutions and foster systemic change.
