I have a vivid memory of learning for the very first time the “girl push up.”
It was in Grade 8 PE where I was introduced to the notion that girls did push-ups on their knees while boys did it the regular way. The message: girls can’t do what boys can do.
When you consider that it was only just 30 years ago when women were “allowed” to enter Olympic marathons, it is no wonder that for those of us who grew up during this time, the message we received was that women still had a long way to go.
But here we are a generation later and without sounding too cliché, it looks like we in fact have come a long way.
In the 1990’s female climber Lynn Hill became famous for making the first free ascent (male or female) of the difficult sheer rock face of the Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley. Female climbers around the globe followed suit by out climbing their male counterparts in a variety of settings.
In the sport of ultra-running (up to 100 mile races) women compete against men and sometimes beat them. In fact, a recent study cited in Outside Magazine looked at women’s times in long distance events and found that women were improving at a much faster rate than men.
Equestrian events are one of several in the Olympics that place male and female athletes in the same category and yes, you guessed it, some women have medaled in all of the categories leaving the men behind.
This all may point to the fact that perhaps, today the playing field is a little more even between the sexes.
Regardless of what we make of it, one thing is for sure: in our house, there will only be one kind of push up to learn.
Until next time, see you out there!
Editor’s note: Lydia Watson handles marketing and outreach programs for Off the Edge Bike shop in Sechelt and is the convenor of the highly successful mountain bike operations program at Capilano University.
