Why are there (almost) no female ship modellers?

John Hendrix

John Hendrix

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16.000 members.. any female modellers among them?
Only Olha Batchvarov that I know of (one of the best!).

Why is this? Probably there are 'historical' reasons, that have to do with traditional gender roles etc.
He goes to sea and she stays home and spends her free time with needle work.
But that certainly can not be the case anymore?

In 'real' sailing/boating things have changed a lot over the last 40 years or so.
More and more women sail for leisure or work on ships professionally.

But here, women mostly appear in lame jokes about 'admirals', or asked to sow sails for us..

I seriously wonder if there are any ladies out here, and if anyone has a theory why it -still- is what it is..
 
John Hendrix said:
In 'real' sailing/boating things have changed a lot over the last 40 years or so.
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Yes - as you mentioned a lot have changed in the last 40 years, but especially in the last 10 years
but
I do not know exactly how high is the average age of all members - we are relatively old, I am getting 60 this year, and a lot of our members are 70 or older.
So I have the hope, that in 40 years from now on, much more female members are posting here in our forum .....
 
Women do not generally tinker with stuff, or indeed have hobbies. There are some female pursuits equivalent to model shipwrighting, like embroidery or furnishing really elaborate dolls' houses (that one I do completely get). You don't often find female collectors of anything though, and when you do, they tend to collect stuff not as an end in itself but because whatever it is has some actual utility as homeware or gardenware. So you do get female collectors of ceramics, garden gnomes, and what not. A bloke interested in gardening would express it by having a collection of 25 vintage lawnmowers, or would try to amass 2,000 different types of rose, or something. Roses aren't a great example, because collecting rose varieties was invented by the Empress Josephine no less, but collecting for collecting's sake is not really a female behaviour.

If women did build models, I could see them taking up ship building if only because model ships, especially tall ships made of wood, are acceptable household ornaments provided you don't have twenty of them, they don't have any ugly associations and you are prepared to dust them. My Cutty Sark bought in Mauritius in 1993 is allowed a prominent position in the house, but I don't think the Nazi battleship Bismarck would be tolerated for domestic display. However, most men who build models are in effect continuing a childhood hobby into adulthood, which is why we're a bit sheepish about it. Dolls' houses aside, the XX half of the population doesn't really do this.
 
Uwek said:
Yes - as you mentioned a lot have changed in the last 40 years, but especially in the last 10 years
but
I do not know exactly how high is the average age of all members - we are relatively old, I am getting 60 this year, and a lot of our members are 70 or older.
So I have the hope, that in 40 years from now on, much more female members are posting here in our forum .....
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I surely hope so Uwe. We always think about young people (boys) when trying to get more people into this beautiful hobby,
but women make up 50% of the population, and what..0,5% of modellers?

Also.. I think they would be really good at it!
 
John Hendrix said:
Also.. I think they would be really good at it!
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I fully agree
One of the best card board ship model builder is a female
Doris Obručová is making amazing ship models


Her Royal Caroline



www.ceskatelevize.cz

Modelářka Doris Obručová - 18. února 2021 - Gejzír | Česká televize

V další reportáži vám představíme královnu moří. Takovou přezdívkou se totiž pyšní modelářka Doris Obručová z Horní Suché na Karvinsku. Moc žen byste v tomto oboru nenašli. Její doménou jsou, jak asi tušíte, lodě. Především pak plachetnice. Ovšem pozor. Vypadají jako opravdové. Jen zmenšené. Už...
www.ceskatelevize.cz www.ceskatelevize.cz
 
So also not your wife ?!?!
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Uwek said:
So also not your wife ?!?!
I can say, that my daugther is following me, sometimes, when I go into the workshop
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Thanks God, no! With the costs of my tools and my past on the website from Ancre i am a dead man. Its good how it is.:cool:
My daughter works sometimes with me, but she is as well very dangerous. She knows my tools and she checks every changing.:rolleyes:
But i have forgotten my mother. She stalks me on Insta and FB and she checks every details. I am surrounded!!! o_OThumbsdown
 
Here you can see Betsy and her model of a Dory - btw: a great idea by @Model Shipways with this effort, which is fully supported by our forum ShipsofScale

Let's get more people into wooden ship building!

No problem, do you need me to email the photo's? Sure! Send them to rick@modelexpo-online.com The more, the merrier!
shipsofscale.com
 
I don't know the psychology of it, but women just don't seem to have any interest in any sort of modelling of real world artifacts that produce, let's face it, an object of no practical value in and of itself. Ships, planes, cars, train stuff. None of that has a female following of any size. Men like to tinker and build stuff, where the means IS the end. I don't think it's fair to say that women don't have hobbies, even craft-type hobbies. They just seem to tend to be interested in producing things of practical value, things that can be worn or used in decoration - mainstream stuff :)
 
both my wife and daughter are very artistic and crafty. Yvonne just got accepted in a local art gallery. They do jewelry, lapidary, stain glass, silver smithing but no model building. As a matter of fact they do not build model ships but both of them own the Lunberyard for Model Shipwrights.
modeling trains, planes, cars and ships do seem like a man's world. Maybe men and women have different spatial congnition skills. When i start a model or a drawing i see the finished piece in my head then it is a matter of breaking it down into parts. As skilled and artistic Ev is she can not visualize a 3D object.

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i have noticed in geometric shapes when asked what it will look like turned 90 degrees to the left or right my wife and daughters have a hard time picking the correct view. doing mechanical CAD drawings and drawing top, bottom, left and right sides can get confusing. Again you see very few women in drafting but a lot in organic 3D modeling.
 
I think all you guys are stepping into the “Danger Zone” I sure as heck am not getting involved in this debate
 
I think it is a question of mentorship. I learned woodworking and model making from my dad and sewing from my mom. I introduced all my kids to model making but they were more into sports (which they got from their mom). I work in a motorcycle dealership and there are a surprising number of women in motocross and enduro riding. I used to manage several Games Workshop stores and many of the best miniature painters were women but not all of them enjoyed the game playing.
In the end it is about introducing people to it and helping them along in an environment that is friendly and supportive.
Cheers,
Dave
 
Keep in mind that virtually all of the historic ships that are popular with modelers were manned (and build) by men. Manned, not womanned. Contrary to gender stereotypes regarding occupation, which fade with time, this will always be in the way of women identifying with this specific pastime. Men on the other hand do easily identify with the seafaring admirals and explorers of the past.
 
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Don't be naive, it is more likely that women are in the group and do not appreciate the brash remarks often associated with hobbies commonly associated with male gender. Therefore they may be choosing to be there, however without being seen. Imagine that, huh They may even use husband's name etc.
 
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