Annex 7 to the 2016 CIVL Plenary

http://www.fai.org/downloads/civl/CIVL_2016_Agenda_Ax7

Benedicte Saury writes:

Feminisation of sports is a main issue underlined by the IOC over
the last decade and is probably going to continue so until the levels of female
involvement in leisure and competition practices altogether reach a more
realistic level.

Free flying and its main activity paragliding is no exception to this situation:
although I have no data for the overall worldwide figures, I believe the French
ones describe accurately the overall situation. With 30% of beginners pilots as
female, these seem to rapidly leave the activity to a level of approximately 10%
of overall licensed pilots and less than 5% in competition pilots. The level
remains similar in hand gliding.

Tiki Mashi writes:

Amber Joy Atkins soloed today!! Pictured here with the great Gatsy (dog) and
Falkor (the hang glider), after her first solo. Amber is a testament to
persistence and tenacity traveling all the way from Austin to learn to fly.

It is unfortunate that
Benedicte headlines her proposal in the manner that she does. Also that she is
essentially referring to paragliding, which numerous hang glider pilots already
see as the feminization of the sport.