In my case 2 years of non ringing due to Covid has not helped, the bad knees are worst and I need to get going again! I think I am

Learning to ring bigger bells has been an uphill battle as a female ringer. I learned to ring at University and after seven years could ring eight spliced but would

In my experience, many women are put off ringing at an early stage by a lack of understanding from their (usually male) tower captains/instructors of a more cautious approach to

I learnt to ring at 15, with my brother who was 12.  We were in the choir and the tower captain approached us, saying that our parents had
already agreed

Why is it that there is an even gender balance among ringers in the early stages of ringing, but the gender distribution changes at more “advanced levels”?

I got

One example: I tried to convince a male tower captain that his overwhelming tendency to place only male ringers around the back was a
problem. During the conversation he argued

I learnt, and continue to ring, in a place that is dominated  by males and I feel they behave very differently to the female ringers. The male
ringers can be

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

I learnt to ring in a tower where it was clear that I would be expected to ring the heavier back bells, there was no gender discrimination. I was excited

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

• during a routine practice night, comments are made if the line up to

Coming from a ringing family, I've sat in ringing rooms surrounded by both "uncles and aunties" as long as I can remember. Our band
was probably 60/40 men and women

When I learned to ring as a teenager in the early 1970s there was no messing about: men were men and women were ladies. And the men
organised the rotas

I had not been ringing very long but was very keen. At a  branch practice I attempted to ring a heavier bell than I was used to in a method

I was ringing at a cathedral after a 12-bell. The person running the ringing and asked, in a cheeky way, if I would be ok Ringing the tenor.  I defo

I was taught by my father as a child and didnt really enjoy ringing. When I went to university I stopped completely and sort of expected
people to try and

I started ringing at the age of 7, and was lucky to have a ‘prolific’ tenor ringer as a father. He was always keen to push me to ring the

I think part of the problem (of women not having as many opportunities as men) is misplaced protectiveness to females, coming from those in charge. I have noticed females being

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

I started in my mid 40s in a

I had just been promoted to a senior job in London and, as a single mum was struggling to deal with my 2 year old, the full-time job and the

I learnt age 12 on a heavy 19cwt 6 so had to learn to ring reasonably heavy bells. I usually rang treble to the third. We were encouraged to ring