Catalyst Blog

Women can’t jump?

The International Olympic Committee said it “needs more time” to decide the fate of women’s ski jumping in the 2014 Winter Games. The committee met late last year to discuss, among other issues, possible inclusion of the high-flying sport banned in years past.

You read that correctly—women ski jumpers were not allowed to compete in previous Olympic Games. It is the last Olympic sport to remain men only.

In 2009, the IOC claimed that there were not enough “qualified” women to merit inclusion of the sport in the 2010 Vancouver Games. At the time, 83 women from 14 nations competed at the top level, including Lindsey Van, who held the world title and North American distance record.

A double standard clearly applies—and this is nothing new in the world of ski jumping.

“Because of this unanswered medical question as to whether ski jumping agrees with the female organism, this would be a very daring experiment and should be strongly advised against,” wrote Doctor Gustave Klein-Doppler in the 1926 Wintersports Yearbook. Almost 80 years later, International Ski Federation (FIS) President Gian-Franco Kasper mirrored these remarks, noting: “Don’t forget, it’s like jumping down from, let’s say, about two meters on the ground about a thousand times a year, which seems not to be appropriate for ladies from a medical point of view.”

Huh? It’s 2011—enough with these sexist stereotypes about delicate “ladies.”

“The IOC’s role is to encourage and support the promotion of women in sport at all levels and in all structures with a view to implementing the principle of equality of men and women,” states the Olympic Charter.

Letting women jump is one way to affirm this principle—and send an inspiring message to women and girls that they can soar.

Look at the money in your wallet. Consider the name of the street you live on. Think about the great monuments in Washington, D.C., or your favorite Hollywood director.

Chances are you’re thinking about men.

Women make up 47% of the non-farm U.S. workforce and 50.7% of the U.S. population, but we are absent from the symbols, icons, images and voices that fill our world. I call it The Invisible Woman phenomenon. And it’s pervasive.

Only one of the 45 major monuments in Washington D.C. honors women, and women make up only nine out of the 100 statues in National Statuary Hall. About 7% of traffic circles in D.C. are named after women, a trend representative of street names nationwide. Only 21% of U.S. postage stamps produced from 2000 to 2009 feature an image of a woman. And all U.S. paper money features men.

The invisible woman phenomenon is not just about statues and coins. The phenomenon includes disparities across politics, media and arts. Women hold 16.8% of seats in the U.S. Congress, while less than 20 female world leaders are in power. Women hold only 3% of positions of clout in mainstream media. Less than 10% of TV sports coverage in the United States is devoted to female athletes. And of the 250 top-grossing movies produced last year, 7% were directed by women. And that’s just a small sampling.

So what’s the deal?

We have inherited a legacy of male-dominated monuments and street names, a by-product of thinking women had less to contribute to society than men. And ingrained biases persist. These shadows of the past still permeate our lives. They need to be replaced.

We tell our children that they can be anything they want to be, but The Invisible Woman phenomenon narrows their vision. Our sons need to see women out there if they are to embrace a culture where everyone is valued when they grow up. And if all our daughters see and hear is men, what does this tell them about themselves and their position in the world?

Women must be visible. Everywhere.