ISAF Conference- Gender balance skewed with 2016 Event selection

by Richard Gladwell on 12 Nov 2010
The International Sailing Federation's Events Committee have effectively skewed the gender balance in Olympic sailing, with its choices of Events for the 2016 Olympic Regatta, selected at its meeting in Athens on Wednesday.

The reason for the imbalance is the selection of two Mixed classes (one male and one female sailor), when previously this type of Event has not been used in the Olympic Regatta.

The physics of sailing is that in a mixed gender boat it is more likely that a female, being lighter and smaller in stature will be on the helm, to keep weight out of the ends of the boat, and the male being taller and heavier will crew - keeping weight in the middle of the boat.

Using this rationale the disposition of sailors and helms in the 2016 Olympic Event card shows that of the 16 sailors engaged in a full card of events for a national team, nine of that team will be female and seven will be male.

Using the assumed normal helm and crewing roles, there will be six helming positions for women and four for male sailors.

Events proposed by Events Committee

Event	Female Sailors	Female Helm	Male Sailors	Male Helm
Womens Board/Kite	1	1
Male Board/Kite			1	1
Singlehander Men			1	1
Singlehander Women	1	1
Doublehander Men			2	1
Doublehander Women	2	1
Multihull Mixed	1	1	1
Keelboat Women	3	1
2nd Singlehander Men			1	1
Doublehander Mixed	1	1	1
Totals	9	6	7	4

Compare that to the current class mix, where there are no Mixed Events, and of a total again of 16 places in a full national team, there are seven places for women sailors and nine for male sailors. Of the helming position split, there are four positions available for women sailors and six for males.

The issue is further complicated by the fact that in most countries there are significantly more male sailors than female, and for the doublehanders - currently sailed as separate male and female events the transition to the new Mixed event will involve breaking up existing crews. Some idea of the imbalance in relative numbers between Mens and Womens sailing can be gauged from the 470 representation at the 2008 Olympics, where there were 29 entries in the Mens 470 Event and 19 in the Womens 470.

Quite how all this shakes out in the new Event card remains to be seen, however it may be the the ISAF Council address this imbalance by dropping the Mixed Dinghy event, and substituting a Mens Keelboat - which the Executive Committee had previously stipulated should be decided by a set of Evaluation Trials.

Current Olympic Events - 2012

Event	Female Sailors	Female Helm	Male Sailors	Male Helm
Womens Board	1	1
Mens Board			1	1
Womens Singlehander	1	1
Mens Singlehander			1	1
Womens  Doublehander	2	1
Mens Doublehander			2	1
Open Skiff			2	1
Womens Keelboat	3	1
Mens Keelboat			2	1
Heavyweight Singlehander			1	1
Total	7	4	9	6

The logical option would be to use the Elliott 6Metre as the Mens Keelboat, which would give more symmetry to the Mens and Womens Events, it would set the helm positions as equal at five per gender and would give nine male sailing positions and eight female sailing positions in the 10 Events.

Of course the Star advocates would try and exploit this situation to corner a two man Olympic keelboat position - however this is not consistent with the Executive Committee's prescription that if a Mens Keelboat were to be chosen as an Event then the Equipment should be chosen by conducting an Evaluation Trial.

Update: The 2016 Olympic Events list put forward by the Events Committee was endorsed by the ISAF Council, keen to avoid a repetition of earlier years, where the Events and equipment were voted on class by class. The slate is provisional until confirmed at the May 2011 Meeting.

A new balanced card using a new three man keelboat to be chosen by Evaluation Trials

Event	Female Sailors	Female Helm	Male Sailors	Male Helm
Womens Kite/Windsurfer	1	1
Mens Kite/Windsurfer			1	1
Womens Singlehander	1	1
Mens Singlehander			1	1
Womens Doublehander	2	1
Mens Doublehander			2	1
Mixed Multihull	1	1	1
Womens Keelboat	3	1
Mens Keelboat			3	1
Second Singlehander			1	1
Total	8	5	9	5