In my case 2 years of non ringing due to Covid has not helped, the bad knees are worst and...

Learning to ring bigger bells has been an uphill battle as a female ringer. I learned to ring at University...

In general I have spent my life bucking the trend on what girls and women are expected to do (sports...

MENTORS: Although I was taught by a man, and my two main mentors were men, thinking back I think it...

When I learnt to ring in the late 70s it was definitely a male-dominated activity, and there were people about...

When my husband and I started conducting in our young tower, we agreed that I would conduct Plain Bob and...

Reading the accounts on the website so far, it certainly reminded me of an occasion when my husband and I...

A few years ago a request went out from our local guild for help with a ringers' tea at a...

When I learned to ring as a teenager in Buckinghamshire, I was one of the better ringers at my home...

I agree with many of the comments made in previous stories so far. I have been ringing for more than...

I feel I am the stereotype female ringer who always rings  round the front end and has done virtually no...

I learnt to ring a bell aged 12, the daughter of a ringer, but really started my ringing journey from...

I am very new to bell ringing and still a learner in my view (circa 3 years since walking into...

 I carried out an analysis of quarter peals in Suffolk for our annual report including the gender of ringers and conductors.  The...

I learned to ring in 1980 when I was in my early 20’s. The Band here was a strong Sunday...

In my experience, many women are put off ringing at an early stage by a lack of understanding from their...

 A few years ago, I called a peal. When it was published in the RW, I noticed I was the...

I think there are several reasons for the imbalance, some valid, and some definitely not. Women are generally physically weaker...

In answer to the question: Why is it that there is an even gender balance among ringers in the early...

At a District Meeting two or three years ago we welcomed two male visitors. One of them had phoned in...

I agree with the writer of the 'Conducting' piece. Although I conducted a number of quarters and pieces during practices...

I learnt to ring at University with a good band and though taught mainly by men, had plenty of females...

I once organised a few days ringing with a group of people, most of whom were working on a new...

Interesting stories - what comes across to me is how much people's experience differs, it really does seem to strongly...

I am fortunate in that I don't feel that I have suffered discrimination where I ring. I think my capabilities...

I learnt to ring at 15, with my brother who was 12.  We were in the choir and the tower...

Two women/girls in our tower were encouraged to ring the Tenor (15 1/2 cwt) and made a habit of it...

When I started ringing as a short 14yr old (admittedly a long time ago!) the tower possessed one box, height...

I was a helper on a Surprise Major course some years ago.  After the tutor had placed a couple of...

Why is it that there is an even gender balance among ringers in the early stages of ringing, but the gender...

I am always happy to ring one of the smaller bells – the lighter the better.  I learnt to ring...

I had always wanted to learn to conduct, and having married one of the best composers and conductors there is...

After I had learned a few methods I started going to other local practices and learned to call simple touches...

I have never experienced much gender bias against me personally, but have been aware of slight gender bias in the...

I think some of the problems are from a wider societial view of how women 'should' act. I've rung in...

Male ringers in my circle are aware of the gender problem at least when it comes to band placement, possibly...

One example: I tried to convince a male tower captain that his overwhelming tendency to place only male ringers around...

I think of myself as a “started too late in life (when I was in my 60s) ringer”, rather than...

I'm a male ringer in my 30s. A couple of years ago I was invited to judge one of the...

Perhaps I have been extremely fortunate, but I have  experienced very little opposition from anyone as I have progressed in...

I learnt, and continue to ring, in a place that is dominated  by males and I feel they behave very...

Having learnt as a teenager I had lots of opportunities for calling touches, quarters and peals. I met and married...

I have called touches in the past, and I particularly worked on Stedman Triples, as no one locally could call...

Several of the stories published so far hit on something really crucial, I think, which is that as a ringer...

I learnt to ring at school. It was a girl’s boarding school and while we were taught by a Mr...

One of the most beneficial things for fighting gender bias in ringing, in my opinion, is the presence of confident...

I learnt to ring in a tower where it was clear that I would be expected to ring the heavier...

Before I had children, I reached a high point in my ringing career. Then I had children and I didn’t...

I was lucky as a young ringer to have encouragement to learn to call touches, go on a conducting course...

I feel that I have been very fortunate in the support that I have received from a significant number of...

Many years ago, when I was in charge of our local tower, we were fortunate to have a large number...

You have asked for  instances when I have felt that there was gender discrimination. Here's a few:

• during a routine...

It was a dark and stormy night, as the story goes. This was my second year living in this city...

I was encouraged to call touches at my tower. I felt at that time when the feminist movement was on...

I am concerned that we are missing opportunities to encourage ringers with non-Anglo backgrounds. This is based on their representation...

I want to acknowledge the many ringers (male and female) who have encouraged me to develop my skills as a...

If you notice bias you can, and should, take steps to counter it.

For example, in the context of bias...

At our annual association festival one year I realised that  the quarter-peal bands, arranged by the organisers, typically had only...

Running practices in the 1990s I realised that when a visiting male/female couple came into the tower I would ask...

I learnt to ring in the 1980.  I attended an all girls school (not sure if that is significant) and...

I did not ring much for years after I had children because our family schedule, ringing room layouts, and child...

I was taught to ring by a woman in a fairly well balanced tower. The male tower captain encouraged others...

In 1999 I moved to a new city, not knowing a soul, for work after college. I didn’t ring for...

In my early years I happily rang the eleventh at York Minster and the tenor at St.Nicholas Pier Head, Liverpool...

I currently have three children under the age of 5 and now ring infrequently, having previously been an active peal...

I rang in a number of what would probably be labelled as "elite" peal bands from my late teens to...

I learnt to ring in an odd-struck, rather lumpy 6, but I thought they were great.  I learned with other...

Coming from a ringing family, I've sat in ringing rooms surrounded by both "uncles and aunties" as long as I...

When I learned to ring as a teenager in the early 1970s there was no messing about: men were men...

I was taught to ring over 40 years ago. We were all given the same opportunities and encouraged to attend...

I had not been ringing very long but was very keen. At a  branch practice I attempted to ring a...

I was taught to ring in my 40s together with my husband and children, all of us still ring now...

I'd like to reflect on my time at a particular tower. I loved my time there and was made very...

I asked my mum, a ringer of 60+ years, who her inspiration was and the response was three very well-known...

This isn't really a story, more a general observation based on something that I've seen happen A LOT over the...

I was ringing at a cathedral after a 12-bell. The person running the ringing and asked, in a cheeky way...

Maybe l've been lucky, maybe l'm blind to it, but l have not noticed/been aware of any gender bias. I...

I was taught by my father as a child and didnt really enjoy ringing. When I went to university I...

I started ringing at the age of 7, and was lucky to have a ‘prolific’ tenor ringer as a father...

I started ringing nearly 9 years ago, whilst in my mid-20s,  a few weeks after giving birth to my second...

I have never felt disadvantaged as a woman in bellringing. I learnt to ring at a twelve bell tower and...

I started to ring in a 10-bell tower with an RM who did not have a great deal of complex...

I think part of the problem (of women not having as many opportunities as men) is misplaced protectiveness to females...

I learnt to ring at a twelve bell tower in the mid 70’s, where we had a predominantly female band...

I was taught to ring in my thirties at a local village church. After a few years, I started calling...

I was asked into a peal at Ambleside, a lovely 32 cwt 8 in Cumbria, and if I wanted the...

I had been an enthusiastic and fairly high profile ringer (female) through to my late 20s.  At that point, career...

Very recently, my husband and I were set a question about how I felt about ringing a perfectly ordinary 15cwt...

My experience was that the discrimination when I learned to ring (started 1999) was on the grounds of age rather...

When I had been ringing a year or two, I remember going to visit a relatively heavy ring of bells...

I had just been promoted to a senior job in London and, as a single mum was struggling to deal...

I learnt age 12 on a heavy 19cwt 6 so had to learn to ring reasonably heavy bells. I usually...

I started learning to ring about two and a half years ago, first in the classrooms at MIT ringing handbells...

Last year (2019), I was on holiday with my two girls and we went to a local practice night.  Along...

I learned to ring more than 30 years ago when I was an undergraduate at Kalamazoo College, Michigan.  My first...