Why are there (almost) no female ship modellers?

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

..for the same reason men don't attend lamaze classes...
Men and women tend to have different interests. It's not good or bad, it just is.

 

[Corsair]

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.

Welcome to the forums Linus !

Jeff

 

[John Hendrix]

It's not naive to assume that the overwhelming majority of members of this forum is male.
And indeed it is not a matter of having different interests is good or bad.

My initial post was meant to find out if there is a reason why it is like it is.
Some thoughts;
The clichee image of a ship modeller is..an old guy in his 'mancave', in a constant battle with the 'admiral'
about a place to put his ships, while hiding the true costs of his hobby.
This is a certain 'funny' clichee image, it is of course not the reality.
But it is perpetuated by our clichee 'jokes'.

Boys play with Dinky Toys, girls play with dolls (and dollhouses!).. probably still true in general, and probably the main
cause that girls do not 'naturally' grow into modelling.

Why is the average age of ship modellers relatively high? Probably because it is a very time consuming hobby,
something many take up, or return to, after retirement? Factors like disposable income and maybe increasing patience with
age also play a role. Still, there seem to be quite a lot of younger men in modelling, using YouTube and other media
to talk about their passion. Women? None, with the exception of Ohla.

Why did I put the question out here?
Not to provoke sweeping generalisations about the differences between men's and women's abilities;-)
The reason is that I read about a worrying tendency that our hobby is in decline.
And that the 'target group' to recruit new people to modelling is -implicitly- younger men.
So, can we find a way to involve more women in our hobby?
Maybe, sorry to get 'political' for a moment, maybe we should stop this old-boys club 'humor' and
make this place a bit more woman friendly. I know we all love our spouses and daughters, now just let's assume that
they follow these forums and make it more welcoming to them?
Can we find ways to actively involve women in our hobby? Invite the women in our lives to the next local club meeting,
go tell about this fascinating hobby at schools? Encourage the female members to be more active on these forums?
Have an introduction kit offer specifically for female modellers?

I don't think that the existing gender roles will change soon. I'm not even sure if they should.
But, in order to grow- even maybe in the long term save- our hobby, I think it makes sense to think about how to involve
the other 50% ;-)

thanks for engaging in this topic!

 

[albertmary]

I do practice this hobby mainly as a therapy against my daily stressors, while my wife, as well all my girlfriends before her, definetly seams to prefer ansia, insomnia, panic attaks, depression and all funny stuff like that. Any good hobby or interest is a far better remedium than drugs or mental illness, that's all.

 

[Alan Smith]

The reason is that I read about a worrying tendency that our hobby is in decline.

Don't despair too much about the lack of younger modellers. We are members of a subset of humanity which a famous anthropologist called 'homo faber' - men who make things - an attribute built into homo sapiens in general which will never be totally lost. Hobbies like everything else are subject to fashion - enthusiasms come and go. Model aircraft building went into a decline that interest in drones and drone technology has partially reversed. Same core motivations but transformed from balsa and rubber to carbon fibre and electronics. In my own field of work (condensed matter nuclear science) we are concerned about the lack of young entrants to the field, but they are actually already there, not working in labs, instead using AI to mine info from thousands of research papers to create new areas of investigation.

In the same way we might for example expect to see a new generation of modellers who derive pleasure from 3-D printing models at home, working out precisely how the complex structures of a first rate or a xebec can be translated into code. Hobbies can be multi-media in more ways than we imagine.

 

[John Hendrix]

Don't despair too much about the lack of younger modellers. We are members of a subset of humanity which a famous anthropologist called 'homo faber' - men who make things - an attribute built into homo sapiens in general which will never be totally lost. Hobbies like everything else are subject to fashion - enthusiasms come and go. Model aircraft building went into a decline that interest in drones and drone technology has partially reversed. Same core motivations but transformed from balsa and rubber to carbon fibre and electronics. In my own field of work (condensed matter nuclear science) we are concerned about the lack of young entrants to the field, but they are actually already there, not working in labs, instead using AI to mine info from thousands of research papers to create new areas of investigation.

In the same way we might for example expect to see a new generation of modellers who derive pleasure from 3-D printing models at home, working out precisely how the complex structures of a first rate or a xebec can be translated into code. Hobbies can be multi-media in more ways than we imagine.

great input Alan, agreed 100%
..
..is it too late for me (63) to get into condensed matter nuclear science?

 

[Chelseafan]

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..

My wife and I own a needlepoint store on Cape Cod and there are but two guys who are into that as a hobby. At least, that's all I can think of. They're very good too but they're definitely a bit unique. Most owners are women, too, so it's likely it's fitting typical gender roles.
Some canvases are a half million stitches of all types (it's not cross stitch) so they definitely have the patience, dexterity and ability to make a good ship. My wife likes mine and they do get displayed but she's never shown the slightest interest in having a go herself. She didn't when I was a plastic modeler, either. So I wonder if it's just the engineering aspect that turns them off ships as a whole. Maybe getting grubby, too.

 

[Peter Gutterman]

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..

I have seen the contributions of women on this forum that make me (and I hope the other men) on this forum sit up and take notice. In particular those from Russia, which seems to have a stellar ship model building tradition. Yes, the balance appears to be pretty male oriented, but I have personally known women modelers who are an inspiration to me.

 

[Toni_S]

I'm a woman.

I love ship modelling, so far. I've been working on the Buccaneer and have a build log here.

I love tools.
I love metal detecting.
I love doing repairs around the house.
I love plumbing.

I used to build dollhouses.
I used to work on cars.
I used to work at Kodak as an electronic tech. I was the only woman in that department.

I wear Dickies double-knee work pants, flannel shirts, and hiking boots on a daily basis. I can't remember the last time I wore a dress.

I adore Olha and her videos and hope to someday be a tiny bit as skilled as she is.

I love my husband. And my husband loves that I do all the "man" jobs around the house.

I fit no stereotype and have found no offense in any of the comments in this thread.

 

[UVSaturated]

.. any female modellers among them?

I suppose it is because of the womens liberation movement that started circa 1969 ish. Women, wanted to be equal to men, and they got their way, by golly. After that, men and women both worked, and there was no time for raising kids in the family. A few generations later and you get the byproduct of this, women who are without role models, women who are not taught anything at all about neat stuff that men do, like hobbies, etc. The women of this current generation ranges in ages. The men of this era have floundered also. Only a handful of people have the knowledge of craftmanship, creating an object just for fun. This has all been replaced by fake social applications on cell phones to bide the time of people.

 

[MikeC]

Google: “Portia Takakajian”. Ship modeler and author whose writings are at Mystic Seaport. Few modelers can beat the quality and exactness of her models and her published research. Likely to be pricey (if you can even find her books.)

 

[Hermies]

Why do we need a discussion?
If I go deep sea diving and explore wrecks must we have 50/50 % men and women? Why only women do child birth….?
Can we please keep the woke out of our hobby. Anyone can do it. If they have time, energy and … + bringing up a family makes any hobby extremely difficult + skill needed. I cannot do crochet or needle point! So what?

 

[John Hendrix]

Why do we need a discussion?
If I go deep sea diving and explore wrecks must we have 50/50 % men and women? Why only women do child birth….?
Can we please keep the woke out of our hobby. Anyone can do it. If they have time, energy and … + bringing up a family makes any hobby extremely difficult + skill needed. I cannot do crochet or needle point! So what?

Read my original post.
It is not about starting a discussion, it is a question, as stated in the title of my post.

 

[Corsair]

I think this question would be better responded to if you could post it where mostly women would read it.
You would probably get a much more accurate response instead of a bunch of (mostly) guys just guessing.

To the women that are here, I say "Bravo" ! I'm very glad you are here and you are certainly welcome!

Jeff

 

[John Hendrix]

I think this question would be better responded to if you could post it where mostly women would read it.
You would probably get a much more accurate response instead of a bunch of (mostly) guys just guessing.

To the women that are here, I say "Bravo" ! I'm very glad you are here and you are certainly welcome!

Jeff

Ha Jeff!
You're right..the question is..where are they?
Maybe I will post on a needlework forum, asking why they are not over here?

Honestly I had expected some more female friends 'coming out' here.
Anyway..let's hope things change and the ratio will one day be 50/50

..oh wait..that means we'll have to get our needles out too!

 

[JanF]

I am a female though the name "Jan" could be either male or female, so maybe I am incognito I am recently retired and just starting to dig into a lifelong desire to build model boats. I am a 3rd generation model boat builder. My father made literally TONS of kits. My grandfather mostly scratch-built. I have three completed boats and many (too many) just-started or halfway-finished boats. Attached is my modest collection of finished boats. In back of my Midwest Muscongus Bay Lobster Smack is my Dad's, which I acquired after he passed and discovered JUST as I was in the middle of building mine. It was a great help plus a lot of fun. Too bad he cannot see that I had a MUCH better idea for creating the oar locks - I used electronic terminal lugs, split then slightly curved...

 

[John Hendrix]

Hej Jan! How nice to hear from you!
Jan is the most common name in the Netherlands (I'm Dutch), and it is indeed also -rarely- used as a girl's name.
(often in its diminished form 'Janneke').

Beautiful ships!
I see you are building Constructo's steam launch Elidir?
It is on my wish list, some time ago it was rebranded "Louise"..but it is not available anymore..can not find it in Europe

thanks for chiming in!

Edit: and I see a Zeeschouw? ...so Dutch ancestry I assume!

 

[MThompson]

There are a few of us here, hiding in plain sight. We are our own admirals I picked up the hobby a few years ago mainly because of my lifelong interest in history. As a retired Army officer, I don’t worry too much about things that might not seem traditionally feminine. Shipbuilding is interesting, challenging, and fun. This is me with my Gunboat Philadelphia, currently on display in the New York State Military Museum.

 

[MisterCA]

My wife is all about knitting and crochet as are many women. She is so good with the latter I had her perform some of her magic on my last build (Tug Ulises) creating a realistic a bow bumper. Can she be counted as a female modeler now?

 

[MisterCA]

..for the same reason men don't attend lamaze classes...
Men and women tend to have different interests. It's not good or bad, it just is.

I went to lamaze classes. Wife ended up having a C section.