HGFA Skysailor Magazine

8 SKY SAILOR July | August 2019 Why Inclusivity? The Inclusive Sport Design (Woods Sport, 2018) states, “Inclusion is what we do and diversity is why we do it” (https://inclusivesportdesign.com ). In order to sustain growth in our clubs, we need to ensure we are providing safe welcoming and equitable opportunities for all pilots. This article focuses on building inclusivity for women, since less than 10% of pilots are currently women. Recently, the Canungra Hang Gliding and Paragliding Club held its first Ladies Day Out – an initiative for International Women’s Day to encourage local and visiting female pilots to come together to fly. Most weekends, I am one of at most three or four female pilots at our local sites. On one occasion in the past three years, we had 17 female pilots on launch, but it was a rare occurrence. The International Women’s Day theme was #balanceforbetter, and we had 26 women and almost the same number of men flying that day. This event was a very positive experience. Prior to the event, some women shared their stories and discussed previous perceptions of our club and The Inclusivity Wave As I draft this article, I am checking the weather observations, webcam, messenger chats and current wind strength at my local flying site every five minutes, just in case the wind drops into a flyable range and I can escape. Escape the normality, enter flight mode and my happy place at altitude. I am likely just like you, in that I love to fly. I love to look up potential new cross-country routes, car pool with my mates, arrive at the hill full of anticipation and launch ourselves into the weekend adventure. I wish my article was about one of those XC adventures, however, it seems my first SkySailor scribble is about something that has become quite a motivating force in my life: Inclusivity. by Carly O’Connell Alltogether, 26 female pilots flew during the 2019 Ladies Day Out Photo: Marnie Jane Carley O'Connell walks to launch before going XC