Examining female representation in SCA rapier
In my 21 years fighting rapier in the SCA, I’ve watched
countless women of different ages and backgrounds pick up a sword and
experience the joy it brings. Somewhere along the line though, they get tired
of all the extra fights. Fighting to be seen. Fighting to have equitable
standards applied to them for advancement. Fighting to belong to the community.
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| Perin runs on stubbornness and coffee |
I’ve persisted. Sheer bloody-minded stubbornness is my
super-power. It’s gotten me through my PhD in Neuroscience and to become a
Defender of the White Scarf in 2009.
I was participating in a work conference on diversity when
the speaker started presenting data on how they proved that women were not
being promoted at the same rates as men to leadership positions in academic
medicine. She further went on to demonstrate how studying the problem started
new dialogues, new programs and initiatives, and growth for these institutions
well beyond anything anyone had expected. Focusing on diversity didn’t dilute
the quality of these institutions—in fact, bringing in new perspectives also
brought in more money, more students, more faculty retention, and a higher
quality of work being produced. She asked, why limit your potential to what
only a subset of your community can achieve when there is so much untapped
talent out there?
This conversation isn’t new, and yes, there has been some
progress made. However, no one has really been able to pinpoint the problem,
and it’s hard to get even invested allies to listen to dozens of stories to
understand the scope and impact of what women and minorities are facing. So, I decided to
conduct a diversity study for women in SCA rapier, with the hopes of generating
new ideas for how to improve stagnating fighter practices, reduce burn out, and
boost recruiting and retention of a broader and more inclusive community.
I was lucky to have people from numerous Kingdoms offer to
collect information from the Order of Precedence. We were able to find out who
had fighting awards at different levels (armiger, grant, peerage) and the date
awarded. The local person indicated the individual’s gender identity and identified
male-female couples within the grant level rapier award.
There are 3 major findings from the report, titled “Representation
of women in SCA rapier awards reveals barriers to progress and increased
dropout rates at all levels”.
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| Number of members in Order of Defense (OoD) over time (months) |
1. Women are admitted into the Order of Defense at 1/5th the rate of their male counterparts. This rate has not changed in the 5 years since its creation. When you look at this data, it’s clear that the gap between men and women in the order is widening.
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| Proportion of women in rapier awards by level |
3. Women take 33% longer than men to be recognized at the
grant level, when controlling for household and regional factors. This suggests
additional hurdles to progress in the current climate and training culture.
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| Time to advance (months) between AoA and DWS |
Taken together, this shows that there is both increased dropout
rates and hurdles to progress disproportionately affecting women in rapier. The
fact that this has not changed over the last 5 years shows that current efforts
are insufficient to overcome this problem. To address this disparity, there is
a need to reduce hurdles while improving mentorship and recognition at every
level. We must plug the leaky pipeline.
There is a genuine desire to improve access for those with
different sexual orientations, gender identities, and racial backgrounds. The question
is frequently “what can I do?” The first thing to do is listen. Start discussions
at the local and organizational level, both within the fighting communities and
the larger group, to identify specific barriers and potential solutions. Talk
to those who are different from you with an open mind. Give space for historically
marginalized individuals to lead conversations about improving training and
mentoring. Support their ideas with your time and words. Challenge yourself to
recognize their contributions—is 1 in every 3 people on your recommendation
lists women? Do you speak up for them in spaces where they are not included or
speak against bigotry when you see it?
Second, many of the solutions aren’t just about targeting
these groups. Creating a culture with proactive teaching, mentoring, and
support will address a number of these issues. Do instructors in your area know
to evaluate students for preskills, and can they teach them? If you can do
this, you can teach youth effectively. Do your instructors have access to
education and tools to improve their teaching? Can they tailor their lesson to
different background experiences and physiques? This improves instruction--and
subsequent skill--for everyone. Does your practice encourage a sense of community
for everyone and support for new fighters? Everyone benefits from a thriving
practice with continued growth.
You can read the report for yourself here. I hope it
stimulates new ideas and improvements for inclusiveness SCA-wide.
