I have called touches in the past, and I particularly worked on Stedman Triples, as no one locally could call it. I had a small repertoire of
other stuff, but opportunities are few and far between and on the rare occasions I am invited, I can't remember what I knew.

What I generally find, everywhere I go, is that where there a male is running the practice, he automatically invites another male, usually one round the back end, to call even plain courses. Even online in Ringingroom.com. This is a very sore point.

Men argue when a woman tells them they have made an error..... in the nicest way, they tell someone else what they should have been doing, but didn't. When I have the temerity to point out that it was HE who was wrong .... there's denial of course, and insistence that it was the poor (female ) victim. Two more goes with the same crash-up in the same place and he finally admits he was wrong (but not that I was right!!!)

I am very sure that giving priority to men, as a matter of course, by other men, is not something they do deliberately, because most are very nice in many many ways, both out of ringing and in it, but I think that to achieve equality of opportunity, men need to be more proactive in including and encouraging women, rather than taking the lead themselves all the time.

What really saddens me about all this is that I have shown that I had potential, but have been unable to realise it. Mainly due to
1) too many brilliant male ringers,
2) not being able, taught or encouraged to ring heavy bells,
3) not being invited or encouraged to conduct,
and 4) - most of all, too little confidence to ask, due to having had too many rebuffs or simply not being part of the clique.