A Woman Walks Out of a Climbing Gym

Here’s why she won’t come back

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Bouldering has become a hugely popular sport in the past few years. Ever since sport climbing and bouldering officially became part of the Olympics, the sports were thrust onto the big stage, inciting the general public to give it a try. Since its inception in the 1970s, bouldering was considered a niche sport dominated by white men who lived out of their cars and didn’t shower for weeks on end. Now bouldering gyms are popping up like daisies in spring and the price of climbing shoes has skyrocketed.

Even though many more women have joined the ranks of mostly millennial and elder Gen Z climbers, bouldering gyms are still predominantly male.

As a typical hobby climber, who started during the pandemic in 2021, I joined the slowly growing group of female climbers who actually stuck with the sport over the past few years. I worked at a climbing gym for a little over a year and was confronted more than ever with the reasons why many women who try out bouldering don’t stick with it.

Around 30% of climbers who visited the climbing gym I worked at were female. This includes everyone, from those who visit once to those who faithfully trained multiple times per week. My boss kept racking his brain to find ways to improve this number. Because obviously, we want…