Re: Attracting / keeping women members at a dojo
I am going to watch this thread closely. We have had this discussion in our dojo many times. We have one high ranking female, but that's is. I don't know how many members we actually have, maybe 30, but only about a dozen regulars. We have females come in for a few weeks and then they disappear. Not sure why. The guys tell me it's may fault. Maybe true. I am the dojo a$$hole. Hey, every club needs one! I try to limit my exposure to new students, especially females, so I don't scare them off. Seriously, I travel around the country and visit other dojos and most seem to have a fair number of females. Maybe it's a mid-west thing. Maybe women truly think martial arts is a guy thing. I think Aikido is different from many other arts because we don't fill the room with excessive testosterone. I know one Aikido club had a ladies only class on Sundays. That went well for a while but I understand they don't have it any more. So, as normal for me I have offered no answers but have thrown in my 2.75 cents.
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