Council resolution aims to promote gender equity in surfing competitions – Hawaii News Now

Posted On: January 31, 2020

Council resolution aims to promote gender equity in surfing competitions — Women from Hawaii’s surfing community turned out to support a resolution calling for gender equity in the sport. (Source: Mana Means Communications)

January 30, 2020 at 3:20 PM HST – Updated January 30 at 4:30 PM

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) – Honolulu City Councilwoman Heidi Tsuneyoshi says there aren’t many surfing competitions for women on Oahu.

But her resolution that was adopted by the City Council on Wednesday is aimed at changing that.

“For the last 10 years, there’s been really not very many qualifying competitions at all for the ladies,” said Tsuneyoshi.

Resolution 20-12 advocates for gender equity in surfing competitions.

Women from Hawaii’s surfing community turned out at the City Council for the resolution’s adoption Wednesday, and said they supported its passage.

She said with the surfing making its debut in the 2020 Olympics, “going forward we want to make sure that we do offer our ladies local competitions where they’re able to qualify.”

The resolution urges the city and state to adopt new rules on permits issued to surfing contest promoters to ensure gender equality for all competitions held on the North Shore.

Tsuneyoshi said her goal is that every surf competition on the North Shore has a women’s division.

“This is really to establish an equal playing field for women,” she said.