Why are there so few if any fly tying ladies on this site.

[flytire 0]

i think theres more women in fly tying/fly fishing than everybody thinks

check out instagram sometime

they just dont post on this forum

helen shaw passed away in 2007 and her name wasnt found in a member search on this forum. maybe she used a different user name

[Kimo 0]

40 minutes ago, flytire said:

i think theres more women in fly tying/fly fishing than everybody thinks

check out instagram sometime

they just dont post on this forum

helen shaw passed away in 2007 and her name wasnt found in a member search on this forum. maybe she used a different user name

I agree. I have had dozens of women approach me at the demos and Fly Fishing Show.
What I have run across is daughters tying flies for their Fathers which is really cool!

Kimo

[DFoster 0]

3 hours ago, redietz said:

 "Unfortunately, many of our fellow anglers still view fly fishing as a “man’s sport,” 

Most women themselves view fishing as a "man's sport".  Some will argue the low percentage of female anglers/tyers is the result of condescension on the part of men.  Well I find that type of thinking condescending because women are tougher than that.  I'm speaking as a man married to a strong professional woman with 2 college educated and working daughters.  I also have 5 strong willed granddaughters.  Neither my wife or daughters have ever let idiots determine their pathway in life. They don't whine, they overcome and move on.  They would say if a person, female or male has a personality in such a fragile state that forum comments like the ones mentioned above would preclude them then they may need more help than can be offered on a fly tying forum.

  In my view the sexes are equal BUT despite what the women's studies programs at the major universities would like everyone to believe "equal" does not mean "the same".  I've never understood why the fact that the sexes are different angers some people.  To me it's as foolish as being angry at the law of gravity-  If you log on to a soap opera discussion forum and the ratio of women to men is going to be as skewed towards women as it is for men on this site, I wonder if they ask "why there aren't there more men"?.  My observation is that most of the men would rather have a root canal than watch a soap.  Why is that?  Because the sexes are different.  Whatever the reason, more men than women gravitate to the sport of fishing.  Even with my best efforts neither of my daughters fish.  I lost them when they were young- to boys, fashion and phones.  Can you imagine?  I was offering cold, wet and buggy!  There are accomplished female anglers in our sport, some of whom make a living at it so to me it's pretty clear nothing is stopping women from fishing but the women themselves.  My girls chose not to and the fact remains that only a small percentage of women relative to men choose to use their spare time and spare money on the pursuit.  

As for me I'm excited to speak with anyone on here or in person who is a fly angler/tyer.  I genuinely don't care what sex or race they are.  Honestly my wife and I find the whole "women can do it, female empowerment" thing the media loves to hype so passe.  We we're over it back in the 90's.  One of the best fly fisherman I know is female (so what), she fishes the same waters I do and nobody gives her a second look on the river, she's just another fly fisherman.  My use of the term "fisherman" is deliberate.   As my wife informed me in the kings English the term "fisherman", like chairman, congressman, craftsman etc are and always have been gender neutral.  My wife who also can hold her own with a fly rod will laugh when someone calls her a "fisherperson".  They mean well but to her allowing people to bastardize the language is demonstration of their ignorance and ignorance is not to be tolerated.  Man or woman she looks them in the eye and corrects them.  (See the part about I married a strong woman).

 

I

[Sandan 0]

Thursday's Bugs and Bourbon has a woman tier and she's pretty good. 

[breambuster 0]

1 hour ago, flytire said:

i think theres more women in fly tying/fly fishing than everybody thinks

check out instagram sometime

they just dont post on this forum

helen shaw passed away in 2007 and her name wasnt found in a member search on this forum. maybe she used a different user name

Helen Shaw was my nickname for her. The older I get, the harder it is for me to recall names, but it finally came to me. The lady who used to participate in swaps here was owner, or part owner, or worked at some place, I think in Nova Scotia, that sold fly tying materials, but they went out of business and I haven't seen her on here since. Her nickname here was "Horseshoes." But I always called her "Helen Shaw" because she really a good tyer. Quality work, no doubt. 

BB

[RickZieger 0]

Several women tie at Sow Bug, but it is still predominately men tying there. 

 

Rick 

[breambuster 0]

I'm a bit surprised that no one has mentioned the name "Joan Wulff" in this conversation so far. She won a lot of fly casting  tournaments and has some videos on Fly Casting. She set a record for a cast of 161 feet! 

BB

[DFoster 0]

Megan Boyd-  Master of the Classic Salmon Fly.

[Sandan 0]

(1909–1998) Many will attest that Winnie Dette was one of the most humble pioneers of the fly-fishing community. Her Catskill dry flies are considered some of the best to come out of that New York twentieth-century tradition. Winifred Ferdon was born just outside of the town of Roscoe, New York.

[WWKimba 0]

Deanna Travis was an avid fly tier and fisher.  She and her husband sat down at the kitchen table one night and asked themselves what they would want to see in a near perfect fly fishing website.  The result was the Fly Anglers On Line site where she was not only one of the founders but a regular contributor.  Sadly, the only active part of this site now is the Forum section but it is still located on line and is an excellent reference site to this day.  Sadly both she and her husband have passed but they both contributed a lot to our fly world!

Take a look at the the "About Us" section, written by the Ladyfisher herself,  to see what I mean.  It's explains one of the reasons I've always loved to work with kids and newer fly tiers.

[Jaydub 0]

It's been my experience that female members of fly fishing forums are generally very popular and well treated. 

As long as we are throwing out names from the past; for many years Audrey Joy tied flies at the Meier & Frank department store in Portland, OR. She was an influence on many Northwest fly tiers and inspired countless people to take up fly tying.  

 

[mikechell 0]

The original question wasn't "why aren't there more women tying?"  It was, "Why aren't there more on THIS site?"

I still maintain that the women, who cook, clean, raise the kids, do the shopping and laundry, etc. AND tie flies ... just don't have any time left over to join and contribute to these forums.

Yes, I am a fan of women.  I'd rather spend time with my cats than most people.  But if I have to deal with people ... I'd rather deal with a woman than a man.  There are a FEW exceptions to these rules.

[Guest]

44 minutes ago, mikechell said:

 

Yes, I am a fan of women.  I'd rather spend time with my cats than most people.  But if I have to deal with people ... I'd rather deal with a woman than a man.  There are a FEW exceptions to these rules.

Once upon a time a devout follower standing on the beach in California prayed to God to please build a bridge over to Hawaii.  God replied that that was way too difficult and out of the question.  Then the guy asked if God would finally explain the female psyche....God replied.   Do we want a 2 lane or 4 lane bridge!

[redietz 0]

1 hour ago, mikechell said:

The original question wasn't "why aren't there more women tying?"  It was, "Why aren't there more on THIS site?"

I still maintain that the women, who cook, clean, raise the kids, do the shopping and laundry, etc. AND tie flies ... just don't have any time left over to join and contribute to these forums.

There is something in that, but there are fly fishing/tying sites that to which women do actively contribute.  This doesn't seem to be one of them.

My wife died when my son was 7. I did all the cooking, cleaning, child raising, shopping, laundry, etc, tied flies, and still managed to find time to contribute to on-line fora.

[Moshup 0]

It’s a bit of a mystery to me as marketing shows more and more women entering the sport and you would think a few would trickle into a site like this one.  Not easy as I’ve found getting women to club meetings not an easy task though they express a real interest in coming.