> Julie -this leads me to an observation that I have no good idea as to a
> reason why. Why are there so few females in the organized fish hobby? Also,
> if they are in the hobby they seem to do more work than their male
> counterparts?
In the U.S. Northeast, this does seem to be true, but here in the
Phoenix, AZ area, I have noticed a larger % of females keeping fish. This
observation comes from the customer count at the store I work at, as well
as from the # of female fishroom employees at the numerous other stores
throughout the valley. At the local club, however, I see very few female
fish-keepers, and those there seem to keep fish in conjunction w/ their
spouses. So maybe they _are_ out there, but just not as active at the
club, and Web, levels. I am at a loss as to why this may be as well. I
have also noticed that the # of female bow keepers is not that high when
compared to males either, despite the fact that 'bows are "nice" fish,
unlike many of the ever-popular African and Central Amer. species. Maybe
we just need to work harder at including/recruiting women into the ranks
of the clubs and the Web stuff. This has been, afterall, a traditionally
male-dominated hobby, at least in the US. I can give you several
examples, from my own and other's experiences, of women joining fish
groups only to be ignored or dismissed by the clique group of "oldtimer"
men present. Luckily, these instances seem to be decreasing as time goes
on. We have many more female role models in the hobby, such as Ginny
Eckstein (sp?) and Karen Randall, so things are improving.
As to whether or not the female members of clubs/groups are more active
or not, I can only say this. From my own experiences, it seems that the
most active women in clubs are the non-fishkeeping spouses of
fish-keeping men. They go to the functions w/ their husbands, develop
many friendships, and get involved because they like the people and their
contributions help to make them feel more a part of the group, despite
their lack of fish-keeping experience. Clubs are, after all, social
groups as well as hobby groups. Of the fish-keeping women vs men, I have
noticed no real difference in level of activity; some are active and some
aren't, and the percentages seen, to me, to be about equal.
That's my (admittedly limited) view of things. I can only speak for a
small % of the US and know nothing of the goings on elsewhere. How is
this in Oz? Do we have any Europeans on this list yet? I know there's at
least one other female (?). I'd love to hear from you, sister, if you're
out there. :-) What about the men's views?
Hopefully, this thread is not too far off this list's track, as I fear
I've written a long one here. :-)
Julie Zeppieri (RSG) <><