"Killar kommer alltid vara bättre, så är livet att vara tjej" : En kvalitativ undersökning om kvinnors plats inom sporterna snowboard och freeskiing

Sammanfattning: For some time researcher has focused their interest on how women are being treated in sports and what impact it has on the development of the sports movement. Researchers in the field have tried to clarify where the problem lies, if it is gender or sex. Are the differences between the sexes caused by how society portrays women or because women and men are built for different purposes. This research paper studied how women in the sports of snowboarding and freeskiing perceived their possibilities to practice their own sports. Furthermore, the study tried to answer if the problems are originated from the culture of the sports, what the possibilities and opportunities women had to make “it” and what women think is the reason why there are so few female athletes in their sports. Seven women who on an international or national level have or had trained and competed in either snowboarding or freeskiing were interviewed for this study. The results indicated that the cultures in the sports are characterized by a large male influence. Before the women could entered in to the inner circle of the snowboarding and freeskiing culture it could be though for the female riders being surrounded by only male athletes. Furthermore, it was not strange if the women would get pestered with negative comments by the male rides. Finally, because women are built differently physiologically compared with men the riders expressed big concern about how the competitions never were set to their standards. Competing in Halfpipe, Big Air and Slopestyle with big jumps set to male standards are challenging for the women and putting their body at risk. Meanwhile, a majority of the women who had participated in women only competitions mentioned that it gives them a better opportunity to develop new tricks. In conclusion, maybe it isn’t the cultures fault that there are so few women in the sports, maybe there are just not enough opportunities for women who are interested in joining and to do so in an environment that supports women friendly courses.