These girls can!

'Empowered women empower women'

International Women's Day: reflections from the Ravens

Last night, like every other Wednesday night the Riot City Ravens trained together. We chatted, coached, laughed, watched, observed, guided, demonstrated, listened and advised. We hit each other, pushed each other, bruised, criticised and congratulated each other and it struck me that we are so very lucky to have this place where we belong.

Our team accepts women (and men) from a range of backgrounds, ages, fitness levels and experiences without judgement. We are all encouraged to develop our skills and to become fully fledged Ravens. There is no hiding place and from the very beginning new girls are introduced to the contact side of the game. Being a derby girl requires self discipline and a level of mental and physical toughness that might be considered unnatural for women. To know this you only need to watch the faces of people who have never heard of the sport as you describe what we actually do.

Society might decide that we are an unusual breed of tough, strong women who fear nothing and who are busy developing an army of like minded women who are strong enough to stand up against men.

The truth is that equality isn't about making women stronger than men. We are already strong, but it's about changing the way that society perceives our strength and how we bring that out in each other. Our sport proudly showcases female strength and resilience, but what might not be so obvious is the teamwork that has led us to feel confident enough to demonstrate it. We know that our Raven teammates are right behind us. If we get it wrong, they will cover it and this empowers us to risk failure.

So often being a strong woman is defined by women as being in opposition to a man. We are 'just as tough as men', 'faster than men' and some of us can 'hit harder than men.' These attitudes mean that we are constantly trying to live up to the expectations of others. In roller derby, this does not need to happen unless you choose to take part in co-ed games and it gives us a unique freedom to develop our sporting strength away from the male comparison. Our role models are usually females and being a woman does not hold us back.

In our real lives some of us are haunted by self doubt and a feeling that we don't really deserve to be in leadership positions or in charge of something important. This has recently been named as 'imposter syndrome' where we fear being exposed as a fraud. There has been a rise in young women reporting this feeling in their personal and professional lives. In our derby lives we are all acutely aware of each other's strengths and weaknesses and after a while this honesty liberates us.

The Ravens that I have spoken to do not feel that derby has changed their female identity, but they all agree that it has empowered them to find their inner strength and confidence. All described the influence that their teammates have had on them to stand tall, to be strong and to learn fast. We all hope that other women will find a safe place where they are free to belong, to express themselves and to learn to be proud of their strength.