adventure women
The disturbing fact about putting this Adventure Women’s issue together is the recurring theme of a lack of knowledge, a lack of appreciation and in most cases a complete lack of understanding about how women fit into adventure. Gone are the days of the pretty face behind the counter, women now are taking ‘adventure’ by storm, yet it still carries a stigma and a bias. You would think that in 2018, the age of sexual enlightenment, we should not be judging women’s achievement by their gender but by their excellence. But we don’t! Paige Hareb, New Zealand’s top surfer of all time, men or women, wins the Founders World Cup beating USA, Brazil and Australia as part of the World team yet we know very little about it. On the same day that she won the Founder World Cup title the NZ media headlines were full of the Warriors loss and some golfer coming 24th in Mississippi.
Annabel Anderson is possibly the most successful women athlete in New Zealand but because it’s not netball I presume most of you reading this have no idea who she is. Not only is she the best in the world at SUP, and has been for some time, she is taking her position and using it to put pressure on ‘male only’ events for women. Read her story how she successfully challenged an allmale competition to include women yet she herself was excluded, the top female SUP in the world. But it’s not just the world champions; this issue features women of all ages and backgrounds doing amazing things both in the industry and out in the world. From running some of the biggest companies worldwide, to guiding Fox Glacier, from cycling around Europe to ticking off a worldwide bucket list alone.
We all carry prejudice, it’s ingrained into our DNA, like opening a door or giving up a seat. I am not saying that we should all be treated the same – equal yes, but not the same as we all have different attributes, but what we have done with this issue is given women a platform to showcase their successes, their achievements and simply shown that women can do everything their male counterparts do.
I was going to finish with a cliqued quote about women success and being forthright but I didn’t want to water down this message. Read this issue and be as impressed as I have been with the ability and intelligence of some of these amazing adventure women.