NZ star hits out at sexism in sailing
"I'm just a female Olympic sailor, what do I know?" Jo Aleh
New Zealand Olympic sailor Jo Aleh has hit out at the sexist attitudes she experienced in her efforts to crack the Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) fleet.
Aleh, who won 470 gold in London and silver in Rio but is now taking a break from Olympic class yachting, was eager to be involved in the round the world race that is now under way and made concerted efforts, including being trialled by Dutch outfit Team Brunel who hired Peter Burling, Team New Zealand’s America’s Cup winning helmsman.
Aleh, who also won world titles in the 420 and 470 classes, was part of a forum at World Sailing’s annual conference in
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, that looked at ways of boosting women’s sailing.
The discussion, titled Balancing the Boat: growing female participation and developing pathways in
competitive sailing, was the perfect stage for Aleh to air her feelings.
‘‘I was sailing with a bunch of guys. A few young ones, a lot less experience in big boats and a lot less experience in offshore but I was at the bottom of the pile,’’ Aleh, who won the 2013 world sailor of the year award with Polly Powrie, said.
‘‘I couldn’t speak up on things I was annoyed with. I learnt a lot but it was some of the most frustrating sailing I’d ever done.
‘‘What I had to offer the boat, which was in my head, just wasn’t listened to. I’m just a female Olympic sailor, what do I know? And I guess that’s fair enough, offshore wise but I just wish a male Olympic sailor who has the same experience was treated in the same way.’’
The key speakers at the forum heralded moves to improve equality for women sailors but there were also obvious frustrations.
Last year, the VOR announced new rules limiting the number of men on a team and giving mixed crews an advantage. Teams are allowed a maximum of seven men but every other allowable combination involved women. Crews could also be seven men plus one or two women, five men plus five women, seven women plus one or two men or 11 allwomen.
On the current leg of the VOR from Lisbon to Cape Town, every boat has a female sailor on board.
At the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games there will be a 50-50 split of male and female sailors.
Fellow speaker Libby Greenhalgh contested the last VOR on board Team SCA, an allfemale entry that finished sixth of seven teams but won the eighth and penultimate leg.
She now acts as director of operations at the Magenta Project which is aimed at accelerating women in sailing. She said their three-year goals included having two female led race teams in the VOR and world match racing tour, having a woman on every Youth America’s Cup team and increasing participation.