Woman head instructors: Where Are They?

[pineapple]

Sounds great, karatekid 1975! Best wishes to both of you!

[ladyj]

As a female instructor with over 14yrs experience, I can tell you it isn't that some of us don't want our own dojo, but being from a smaller town, it is very hard to keep enrollment up. How many men do you know who want to tell people they are training under a female instructor? And as bad as I hate to talk about this... when you put alot of women together they tend to have issues with each other (note this happens in the classrooms irregardless of the instructors gender). I think if you look at the trends, it is a wiser business decision to have male and female instructors at the school so they maintain balance. Men and women perceive and interpert things differently so if you have a good mixed team they will communicate effectively to solve any problem that may arise. Also I agree with the idea that the ratio of women training vs men training is very unbalanced, weighing on the men's side, so of course you will have more head instructors that are male.

[pineapple]

How many men do you know who want to tell people they are training under a female instructor?

 

I, for one, would be proud to train under a female as long as she had the skills

when you put a lot of women together they tend to have issues with each other (

 

I totally agree with this one. I was once put in charge of a housing for female inmates and boy, do they have issues! (with each other)

it is a wiser business decision to have male and female instructors at the school so they maintain balance.

 

This sounds like a good idea.

[belar86]

The dojo I attend currently is owned and run by a female instructor. The men do not mind being trained by a female instructor and the women get along (in most cases are really good friends).

 

Despite this though there aren't that many women instructors in this same position. I can think of only one other dojo run by a woman in our organisation. In the other martial arts (in my area at least) I think they are all run by men.

[ladyj]

Pineapple... I can tell from reading your posts that you would not have a problem training under a female, and I commend you for that. However if you would take a look at most of your male students and question "why" they are training what I found was it usually starts out as them wanting to learn how to fight, then around intermediate level it shifts over to understanding that MA is not about physical fighting that fighting is only a small part of MA. When they are wanting to learn how to fight do you really think they want their friends to know that a "girl" is teaching them. The male students we have now do not have a problem taking instruction from me as a female but the dojo I teach at has my Instructor's(who is male) name on it, even though we are equal partners.

[DeeLovesKarate]

my sensei/shihan runs the school with his wife. I am one of four senseis on his staff. 3 of which are girls. =)

[pineapple]

ladyj:

When they are wanting to learn how to fight do you really think they want their friends to know that a "girl" is teaching them

 

I guess you have a point here that I didn't consider because I'm not a youngster. When I initially started in martial arts, my only goal was to learn to fight, however as I matured in the arts, I was able to see so many other values in the arts besides fighting.

 

I seek knowledge whereever I can find it, whether it's from a man or a woman. I would rather learn from a female with skills than a macho man with half the skills.

 

Ladyj, you have my respect!

[ladyj]

Pineapple... we are all youngster's at heart (thank goodness wisdom comes with age). I agree, when I started it was all about learning to fight. After I trained a while I began to see that it wasn't about fighting at all. Luckily my sensei was a well seasoned BB and was teaching the mental aspect as well as the physical. I love to teach, but if I want to have students to teach I must take note of my prospective clients and be a smart business woman as well as a MA instructor. A wise man once told me in order to lead sometimes we must follow.

[pineapple]

ladyj!!

 

I've looked all over the forum to find out what style that you train in but I couldn't find that info. Mind telling me what style do you train in?

[ladyj]

My discipline is American Karate, however my basics are rooted in shotokan, and I have Tae Kwon Do training as well.