Gender equity and cultural diversity in surfing is an ongoing issue. Women, girls and gender diverse people from diverse backgrounds face barriers to feeling safe and welcome in the surf. This exhibition explores the fun, frivolity, power and passion of surfing women.
Developed as part of the SheShaka Project, these participant captured photographs express the experience and perception of what it’s like to be a woman or girl who surfs.
The SheShaka Photovoice Exhibition was held at the Digital Studio, University of Melbourne, from 27 November to 8 December 2023. The SheShaka Project is supported by a Melbourne Social Equity Institute Seed Funding Grant and project partners, Surfing Victoria and Brophy Family and Youth Services.
Click on each photo to read what participants wrote about their image.
Who Owns the Surf?
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Alone
How isolating or lonely it can be (sometimes) being a woman or gender diverse person in a male dominated space. -
My localism is stronger than yours
My localism is stronger than yours -
The welcomer
I have been determined to push myself, I feel welcomed and am myself a welcomer to this community of good people.
Patriarchy Flows Into the Surf and Sea
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1 in 3
1 in 3. Globally, 1 in 3 women and girls worldwide will experience violence in their lifetime. Gender based violence is such a widespread and insidious health problem, that it can be assumed that it has touched every friendship group, family, workplace, sporting team or community group in some way. Violence against women and girls can take many forms; sexual harassment, sexual assault, physical assault, financial and economic violence, forced labour, sexual exploitation, and/or domestic/family violence. It is everyone’s responsibility to bring an end to gender-based violence from a government level to a community and individual level. We must look out for our women and girls, in our society and in the water. *Please call 1800 737 732 if this has impacted you and you feel you need support. -
Mid life crisis
My partner has a good group of close mates he surfs with. They all go on surf trips once or twice a year. I have a few close female surf friends, but it’s a considerably smaller pool. It’s hard to arrange trips. A couple of years after having my son, I booked on a surf camp to SA. I went by myself as no friends could come with me. Most of them had young families, couldn’t leave the kids for that long, felt too guilty or were breastfeeding. The camp was incredible, I surfed amazing waves in these epic remote locations. At night we surf skated around a big shed to disco music. We went exploring caves, did offroad driving and I met some really fun people. When I got back, three different males, on three separate occasions made the comment that I was having a “mid life crisis”. All of these men were in there 50’s. All of these men surf themselves and go on regular surf trips. Were these comments “jokes” or were they passive aggressive digs. Digs that I’m not behaving the way a woman in her late 30’s should be behaving. Would they have made any comments if I had spent my holiday fund on a shopping spree, spa weekend, wine tour in the Yarra Valley or a trip to a clinic to get my face injected with filler? All this would be far more socially acceptable, far more normal. This photo is a massive middle finger to all the mid life crisis comments. I turn 40 this year and will unapologetically continue to surf, skate and be wild. -
United we surf…
United we surf with our backs to one another
Surfing Redefines Our Relationship with Ourselves and Our Bodies
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Untitled
No label -
Perspectives that inspire you
Let the spirit of adventure guide our day -
Toolkit for life
Toolkit for life. Surfing, as in life requires many tools. These tools are drawn upon when needed and chosen depending on the types of conditions you'll use them in. The trick in surfing, and in life, is to know which tools and when. -
The holistic sensory journey
The holistic sensory journey. With each surf – gliding down the face of the wave is exhilarating but is such a glimpse of the journey. How the journey activates the senses and focuses on the present…. Sound – hearing the roar of the ocean early in the morning getting the heart excited of swell potential. The body moving to the rhythms of the pump up music in the car then the quiet clarity in the water – away from the digital distractions in our busy lives. Sight – to see the beauty of the ocean, waves, colours, shapes –so amplified from the view out in the water. Touch – Vulnerability to the elements, full body submerging into the cold water, internal thermostat reset, feeling the buoyancy of the salty float and pure refresh on the skin. Taste - Salty taste of nature on the lips, then the taste of hot coffee, banana post surf never tasting better. Smell – suncream scent in the air – summer must be coming! The smell combinations of fresh wax, neoprene and salty mist in the breeze. Completing the holistic journey is the undeniable positive impacts on mindset, muscle tone, flexibility and overall physical wellbeing. -
Macca
Macca. I’m so happy to be involved in this project, it has forced me to look at photos of myself and challenged me to not feel completely grossed out when I do! To question why I feel like that when I do see photos of myself.
Building Confidence Through Community
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Two women waiting for the surf
Two women waiting for the surf. A significant barrier for me when I first started to get interested in surfing again was how male dominated it felt. I remember going to spots along the surf coast for a surf, but would see a group of men together getting ready to go out and I’d suddenly feel too anxious/embarrassed and would just drive back out of the car park and head home. -
Surf sistas
Surf sistas. Embracing life to the fullest in any weather -
Time is fluid
Having strong empowering women around me has given me confidence I didn’t know I should have
Being a Surfer… and a Mum
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Together
Together -
Problem solving - the salty way
Problem solving - the salty way. What? Invitation to Party on a board ! Who? You’re all Invited! Where? Natures’ gift, amongst the waves, the ocean, worldwide Why? Pure fun, laughter, freedom! Surfing with friends / family – its irresistible! When? Dawn till dusk – or adventurous lit-night surf (at select breaks). Any season When your mates can, when your family can, when you have a moment to yourself, when you want to meet others with similar interests, when you need a reset in nature. How? Head to the coast, grab your board, grab your mates’ board, hire a board, pop up on a party board. Get submerged in those healthy benefits of vitamin-sea. Once you feel that exhilaration of the cruise down the wave – our surfing adventures will unfold. -
Milkbar
Milkbar. This photo represents how it feels to be a human milk bar. The demands of breastfeeding can be a real barrier to in women surfing. Constantly on the clock. By the time you get in the water you might have an hour. Sitting out the back on your board, not knowing if your child is screaming because they are hungry or happily fast asleep. Paddling in to try and get one arm out of your wetsuit to feed. Feeling guilty that you were away for so long. Being so happy for your favourite surf buddy when she tells you she’s pregnant, but secretly also gutted because you’ve lost a surf partner. -
Mum life
Mum life. As a first time Mum I always dreamed of being able to breastfeed my children. I never realized how it would feel – as difficult some days as it was empowering on others. I was always dreaming of the next time I could find an hour to myself so I could get in the ocean (or have a nap or a hot cup of coffee). I remember feeling different from my male partner, who as a father, had adjusted beautifully to life with a child. I also remember feeling physically limited in a way my partner hadn’t been, because I was the person who was pregnant and had given birth. I had stopped surfing during the later pregnancy and then had to give myself ‘time to recover’. Alongside this, I then chose to spend over a year breastfeeding our first baby boy, an amazing gift and something I would never change. Although not impossible, the ocean became less accessible for me because I was the birth mother; between timing feeds and feeling a deep guilt that was often tied with the expectations from society that told me that I had to be constantly attached to my baby to be seen as a ‘good and attentive mother.’
Catch the SheShaka team’s interview with two-time World Surf League champion Tyler Wright
Listen to Tyler reflect on her journey to being a world champion, highlighting the diverse ways being a woman has affected how she is treated in the surf. Tyler discusses how gender inequality operates in surfing from grassroots to elite levels and what she wants to see change for women who surf.