Comments on: Why Are Female Martial Arts Masters So Rare?

By: RoteZora

RoteZora — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:08:09 +0000

Maliha,

The Budokwai in South Kensington offers dedicated Judo and Karate female classes. I know this is more South London, but they are very good and have a lot of female instructors..

By: maddie madison

maddie madison — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:50:39 +0000

Hello. I have been a fan of the various martial arts for many years, from the sidelines. What form/school of martial arts would you recommend for a 55 year old woman with a weak neck (some degeneration in the cervical spine). I tried aikido 20 years ago and loved it, but hurt my neck tring to learn how to fall. So I am now a bit cautious, but would still like to learn an art, for the discipline, mind-body conditioning and potential for self-defense.

By: Maliha

Maliha — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 09:47:15 +0000

Hi there! I’d like to fing out are there any female martial arts/ karate instructors that teach in East london (Newham) If there are please give details of your class I will be willing to join.

By: angel

angel — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 22:35:57 +0000

Hearing Pepero and some other stories, I have to say that martial arts have come a long way, genderwise. My Kwoon has about as many male black belts as female and of the three highest ranked in my art (Shao-lin Kung-Fu) One of them is female. I feel welcomed in class, encouraged to spar, and given equal treatment to everyone else in class. There still does seem to be a propensity for women to quit before getting their blackbelts, but more that the school, I think that is due to lack of interest or personal opinions on feminity.

By: Pepero

Pepero — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:15:36 +0000

When I started studying back in the 80’s here in the US I never felt welcome in class. I was the only woman in class that seemed to take it seriously as the others didn’t want to spar men and almost always quit before reaching black belt. Most seem to study it only because their child or husband did or for fitness. A few ladies started class because they were attracted to our instructors and stopped class once they managed to get a date with them.

I finally quit myself after reaching black belt because it was nothing but years of verbal abuse from the male students and instructors. They started out making fun of me for being aggressive compared to other women and I was called the usual derogatory terms such as lesbian just because I wasn’t weak and never whined in rough sparring. Then as I came up in rank the males started excluding me from class telling me I wasn’t allowed to join that night and refusing to teach me advance techniques I needed to know to progress as a black belt. I wonder these days if things have changed and if women get treated better? Or was it never really that bad in the 80’s in less prejudice parts of the country as I studied in the South where men are in general very disrespecting to all women.

By: Betty

Betty — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:03:52 +0000

I practise Muay Thai in Kenya. In my dojo we have about 5 consistent Muay thai women, two who are professsional fighters with me aspiring to my first fight early next year. the total – 5 women out of about 60 people. My gym is the only one in the whole of East Africa with Muay Thai.
For Kenya, this is actually a high average. most women here hate the idea of physically exerting themselves for fitness. The men here encourage that, prefering curves over muscle each time.
My take is that, in combat there is neither male nor female, only a master.
if these bubble-headed women allow a bubble headed man to dictate how fit they are then screw them.
The problem with women? they have low low life standards and no real desire to perfect themselves. That’s why they dumb down (they do that here too ) that’s why they don’t exercise. Coz its not about pain, most women who give birth have a very high pain threshold.

By: Pepero

Pepero — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 04:57:23 +0000

I can’t believe no one has mentioned Grandmaster Myong Mayes. She’s considered the highest legitimate ranking female martial artist in the world. She is registered with the Kukkiwon as a 9th degree in WTF Taekwondo.

Here’s some links on her:

http://deletionpedia.dbatley.com/w/index.php?title=Myong_Mayes

http://www.ncustc.com/aboutus.htm

By: Blatherskite

Blatherskite — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 03:45:38 +0000

I read this book when I first started studying martial arts: http://www.amazon.com/Sharp-Spear-Crystal-Mirror-Martial/dp/0892816627/ref=sr_1_23?ie=UTF8&s=books&tag=martialdevelo-20&qid=1252898978&sr=1-23 …. The book is a series of interviews with various women martial arts masters and students from different forms, the difficulties they overcame in order to teach is at time quite touching (many are daughters of masters who were expected to marry-not teach) one female US master of Tai Chi was living in a hut without any running water or electricity earning money by selling pottery & teaching in a park–that’s dedication.

By: Blatherskite

Blatherskite — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 03:10:47 +0000

Ooops I meant at 6th dan and above…

By: Blatherskite

Blatherskite — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 03:08:25 +0000

I know of two female grandmasters… One is a 9th dan and practises in San Francisco: Keiko Fukado:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keiko_Fukuda; teaching judo , I believe her father was a master.

List of high ranking female artists over 6th dan in aikido:
http://www.aikiweb.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=High_ranking_women&oldid=587&wiki_session=69c004d847ba80a2e0d2157911069c3f