O/T Gender and Sport

[ramAnag]

No political or misogynistic intent here, but with almost another week before any meaningful football here’s a question.
We see ever more high profile women’s rugby, football and cricket these days...probably unthinkable twenty five years ago...but I’d suggest that we still have to accept that the ‘best’ footballers, rugby players, cricketers, boxers, tennis players and athletes are all men. For that reason it seems unlikely that we will see men competing against women, or even in organised ‘mixed’ teams at a professional level in the foreseeable future.
There must be sports however where the gender barriers are artificial and unnecessary. I know little about either but anything to do with horses and cars would seem to provide opportunity for men and women to compete equally as would such ‘pastime sports’ as darts, snooker and shooting.
Thoughts or additions to the list of where men and women can compete equally at the highest level?

[MadAmster]

There is a game called Korfbal at which the Dutch excel. Mixed teams.......... apart from the showers I have been led to believe

The best female darters have yet to get anywhere near the level of the men. Same is true of snooker. Never seen a female Motor Bike Scrambler and the odd woman who has gone car racing hasn't reached the heights yet although I am sure they will one day.

[roger_ramjet]

Curling and its warm weather version, bowls.

[AdiSalisbury]

Beachball is always a sport that women are better at.

[ramAnag]

I did say ‘sports’ Rog...and I share Adi’s enthusiasm for female beach volleyball albeit, apparently much like the Olympic committee, for blatantly ***ist/ual reasons.
I’d guess men would mostly have an advantage in terms of lower body strength where motorbike scrambling is concerned, MA, but where strength, height and increased body weight etc are largely irrelevant...darts, snooker, driving, being a jockey...are there any reasons, other than cultural/historical why women can’t compete equally with men?

[roger_ramjet]

clearly their tits get in the way when doing things like archery and their arses are usually too big to fit in F1 or Indy cars. There you go, someone had to go down the purely ***ist route!

[MadAmster]

I did say ‘sports’ Rog...and I share Adi’s enthusiasm for female beach volleyball albeit, apparently much like the Olympic committee, for blatantly ***ist/ual reasons.
I’d guess men would mostly have an advantage in terms of lower body strength where motorbike scrambling is concerned, MA, but where strength, height and increased body weight etc are largely irrelevant...darts, snooker, driving, being a jockey...are there any reasons, other than cultural/historical why women can’t compete equally with men?

Darts - I can't think of a reason why the women couldn't match the blokes physically. So far they just haven't.

Snooker - Rog's ***ist "tits in the way" theory, especially on shots where you have to reach a long way over the table, seems a viable reason. I remember a few years back there was a female player who hadn't been beaten since Pontius was a pilot got invited into a couple of the men's events but got absolutely nowhere. Way too good for the women and beaten by men around #100 in the rankings.

Driving - strength may well be the reason. Battling those high G forces takes a lot of strength and stamina, especially in F1. Even in rally driving where there have been a lot of female drivers, they haven't been able to usurp the male drivers.

Jockeys - same again. Huge strength and stamina necessary.

[Romanis]

Lawn bowls is a great sport for women.
The man lies in the lawn and the women play with the balls.

Hahaha

[Romanis]

Equality in pay? Well I believe in depends a lot on spectator sport.
Eg tennis, is fair that women get the same as men. The high levels of tennis deserves it. The same for swimming and athletics. Yes for horse racing and motor sport.
But for football, rugby and others, do the women really offer the thrills that spectators want?

[Andy_Faber]

No political or misogynistic intent here, but with almost another week before any meaningful football here’s a question.
We see ever more high profile women’s rugby, football and cricket these days...probably unthinkable twenty five years ago...but I’d suggest that we still have to accept that the ‘best’ footballers, rugby players, cricketers, boxers, tennis players and athletes are all men. For that reason it seems unlikely that we will see men competing against women, or even in organised ‘mixed’ teams at a professional level in the foreseeable future.
There must be sports however where the gender barriers are artificial and unnecessary. I know little about either but anything to do with horses and cars would seem to provide opportunity for men and women to compete equally as would such ‘pastime sports’ as darts, snooker and shooting.
Thoughts or additions to the list of where men and women can compete equally at the highest level?

I can offer an insight on the equestrian side of things, and that is this: At starter level, the ratio of males to females is probably 1 to 500. The sport at all levels below elite is dominated by females, maybe 3:1, and females very much 'step up to the plate' on what are traditional male roles - heavy lifting, lorry driving etc. Equestrian demands physical effort which favours males, but it also demands a level of dexterity which tips the scales towards females. And although its one of the most vitriolic, politicky sports on earth, I've never seen any gender bias. And yet: As the sport progresses towards elite levels, males STILL, despite the odds and the relatively evenly balanced physical requirements, still predominate. Despite a long time in the sport, I can only assume that there is something do do with application. But maybe not.