Overcoming an Industry – Being a Female Gym Owner

“The place where I feel gender most intensely is in the really common assumption that my male partner is the owner of the gym.” – Lacey Dumler

In this second installment from the B.I.G. Initiative’s new series Not Just a Boys’ Club, Director Alexa Fay tells the stories of Lacey Dumler and Lisa Lajoie, two gym owners from Quebec. Dumler and Lajoie have decades of experience in the climbing industry and have watched the sport develop over that time. During this period, one thing has remained consistent: climbing is a male dominated industry.

As the sport becomes more equitable, we have begun to see more women in and around climbing’s spaces. With that said, at an industry level, climbing is slow to change with men making up most of the leadership roles in the industry. Last week, Fay described this idea within the context of route setting. Today, she tackles business ownership within the climbing space.

In the film, Lajoie described the bias of the industry in relation to her 20 years in the sport. She reflected on her experience as a young woman in the industry. Lajoie further noted the preference men had for doing business with one another. “It’s always easier when it’s a man dealing with other men on a business level,” Lajoie said. “When I started, I was taken less seriously, since I was a young woman in the climbing world.”

As the film progressed, Lajoie continued by describing a belief that equity could be achieved eventually. Still, this hopeful thought necessarily describes an industry where equity does not currently exist.

Furthermore, B.I.G. asked these gym owners what they believed the climbing community could do to help women in this sport. Dumler began by noting intention’s importance. Merely being open to folks that are underrepresented in climbing is not enough. She suggested women-only events that provide community for those who need a comfortable space.

“Sometimes, for women to get into a comfortable space you just need a big’ ole bunch of ladies around, cheering you on.” Feeling supporting by people like you helps cement that the space belongs to you too.

Perhaps the greatest take away from the film is that the gender disparity we see amongst climbing gym owners could reflect the gap in comfortability women feel within the gym space.

It is notable how few gym owners are women and how few women feel such a venture is possible for them. Without the active work to make space for women, an industry dominated by men will continue to be dominated by men, as only men will see that growing a business in this space is possible for them.

Featured image by Pierre Babin.