http://www.sierrasun.com/article/200...NITY/492350390
For your internet reading pleasure this is worth a read too. I think between the link Mike gave and mine both support my line of thinking for those women who want to start a women's class.
I still stand by the opinion that Aikido is one of the most women friendly martial arts out there. And it is a tough venture to get women interested in martial arts. Aikido does better at keeping women too, but it is a tough venture to keep women interested. Even with all the opportunity presented to women to train the numbers of women in Aikido are not high. What a hurdle to those women wanting a class.
I would think because of the low number of women in the dojo it doesn't help to get the unique contributions women can make as Ledyard senesi has said. This doesn't make Aikido as inclusive as it could be.
The question then is how do you get more women interested and stay in Aikido? It may be hard to hear but you have to court women by what interests them. Aikido as it traditionally stands doesn't court or cater to the interests of women. This means I think that the small number of women in Aikido have to work harder in some dojos. It is an unfortunate event, it maybe women themselves who cause the low numbers of women in Aikido.