Help!!

[Loopy Diver]

For school, I have to do an exposition and since I love diving I chose this. Unfortunately my teacher said I need an angle, which is: How have opportunities for women in diving changed?

I need things like: Why more women dive.
Why have more women only recently started diving
Is it due to equal opportunities? Equipment gotten lighter?
Stuff like that so it would be a great idea if you guys (or should i say girls) could give me a little help.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!

 

[Thistle]

Hi Loopy!

Here is what I think about your subject:
I do not believe that is about new opportunities. I think that generaly speaking people are diving more today than they used to 20 years ago. This is because there are all these organizations providing certification, regulation etc. If you want to dive you just go there and they tell you what you have to do. Very simple staff.
Women dive more because there is not a problem of man or weman but of persons able or not to perform a certain action. If you want i think that the opportunity is at a psichological level more than an equipment related story or something like that.
I hope this will help you somehow.
VV

 

[gozumutti]

Dear Loopy

I agree with Victor. Diving has become available to a broad public, and as a result, more and more people have become interested, including many women.

I think the weight of the equipment has nothing to do with it. I am a woman, and underwater I don't feel any weight at all.

gozumutti

 

[David D]

I' really kicking myself for saying this but...

More women have been attracted to the sport in the last decade because diving gear has become sexy! I'm not saying for a moment that this applies to all lady divers, but being able to kit yourself out in pink stab, mask, fins, wetsuit etc has certainly encouraged some who wouldn't be caught dead in bulky black items.

This has gone hand-in-hand with a change in perception that the sport is no longer a macho past-time! Diving equipment is much better now, fins more efficient, suits warmer, regs easier breathing, computers safer etc.

Having said that, the same factors have probably attracted as many new males to the sport...

 

[Mario S Caner]

My personal opinion is that it's due to many factors. Here's a few of them:

• Dive gear is now easier to dive with thanks to new technological innovations.
• Agencies have sprung up which educate and advocate that diving is easy and can be done by virtually anyone.
• Women get much more positive re-enforcement than in the past.
• The average woman is more physically active than in the past.
• T.V. programs constantly beat into the non-diver that diving is wonderful and that you should come see for yourself.
• etc, etc, etc Whatever the reasons are, Life is now better!

 

[Natasha]

Well, believe it or not, what David said is true. It was not true for me, I did not start diving because of the better colors and equipment, but the studies show more women do say that. The pinks and the purples make the bulky equipment more appealing to wear. DEMA seminars said this, and also that the dive industry is 75% male, and only 25% female at this time. I do think Mario :mario: is right also. Women are more active now, and more independently wealthy and can afford to take on a new sport.
They estimate 3 million people are certified divers at this time world wide! So as you can see, this is still a very elite small group of people, with a lot of growth left indeed. I love being a part of it, and ok I admit it, I just bought a new Isla BC in purple to match my purple fins, and purple and gold wet suit.
Dive the Planet!
:sunny:

 

[DameDykker]

I don't know about the majority of divers. However, I almost gave it up when the only fitting equipment I could get was pink - which I can't stand.

On the other hand black is not a very safe color in low visibility!

In those 25% have you included the many females that take a cource with their BF and then only dives a little or not at all? (And who can understand that?)

DSAO

 

[gozumutti]

Hey Dave

We look just fantastic in neoprene

gozu

 

[Loopy Diver]

Thank you all for your help and keep them coming!!
I hope i did not imply that women were the weaker sex so they need lighter equipment!
I agree with DameDykker that pink is shoking (even if i own a pink and black semi!) but nobody can miss me in the bad vis we get over here!
Any idea on which sites i can get pictures of very old diving equipment??

 

[David D]

Gozu, Yeah baby!

- Mind you no one looks sexy in an 8mm semi-dry!

For this reason I'll bet the percentage of lady divers falls as the temperature of the water drops!

Can't go far wrong in lycra though !!!