Women and Bonsai

saxamania

Hi i was just wondering how many women we have on this forum since the majority seem to be men. I still havent found a female that enjoys bonsai too. I'm female and 21.

How old is everyone else on here?

xxx

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Cathie

You obviously haven't been here very long - there are lots of us! Joanie's a moderator, Irene, Victoria and I have been here a long time, and there are others who may just not post that often (we're too busy growing trees :-).

Joanie

There are quite a few of us... Carmen is awesome, Shirley has fantastic bonsai, and of course Cathie and the gals she mentions.

As far as age, I could be your mom.

There are fewer women than men, and that seems to hold in clubs too, although in some areas it may be half and half.

Joanie

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RedPine

Don't forget EarthGirlOK
A.K.A. EGOK.

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ggblai

Hi Joanie,

You are right about the clubs. The majority of the members are male and this also seems to be true for instructors as well. There are some outstanding female instructors/demonstrators that do come to mind such as Marge Blasingame, Marybel Balendonck, Leila Kusumi, Kathy Shaner, Cheryl Manning, Kathy Benson, and on. Still the majority of enthusiasts appear to be male and surprisingly most of the males are or have technical professions/degrees etc. Most of my peers are engineers, scientists, physicians, teachers, programmers, etc.

ggblai

CScott

Thanks Joanie, you are too nice

Our club is 50/50, but we are a small group. The wives seem to be as into bonsai as their menfolk. I've been getting younger women at my workplace involved in bonsai and it has been great fun. My best "student" is 30.

The Kathy Shaner group I attend has 5 women, and one poor male. Good thing most men in bonsai seem to have a sensitive feminine side - apart from the fixation on bonsai with huge trunks .

I am 53, and work as a Clinical Laboratory Scientist, very anal.

Carmen

Rock Chester

WE have a lot of both in our San Diego club. but is seems like the women are the most turned on about bonsai right now. The men seem ho hum when it comes to signing up and doin' stuff, but da females are gung ho.

Our prez is a women as are several board members. tool sale chair, publicity, Show chairwomen, treasurer, membership, food service, on and on.

Is it just my imagination, Joanie.?

ps. I called for some help at my place to catch up on some bonsai maintenence. I had six ladies -no men want to help. We ar really lucky to have such great ladies!

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treebeard55

Saxa,

For whatever it's worth, our club in Ft. Wayne, IN (think US midlands, if that helps,) has a few more women than men at present. I say "at present" because the demographic shifts at random.

I suspect that in Western culture, bonsai is seen as a more "manly" pursuit than some other branches of horticulture. I think that has been the traditional view in Japan, too; whether it remains so, I don't know.

Someone mentioned Cathy Shaner. For any who don't know, Cathy is the first woman, and the first non-Japanese, to attain a master's certificate (or whatever it's called) in bonsai in Japan. She's the best American bonsai teacher I've yet encountered.

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Treebeard 55

"... the Lord God made all kinds of trees ... trees that were pleasing to the eye ..." (Genesis 2:9, NIV.)

BarbaraM

Saxamania, The club I belong to is predominantly male, over 50, and retired. I have witnessed this to be fairly common. I am 44, have young kids who bonsai (6 & 10), and work. We also have a sudden influx of youth in our club (hooray) which brings more moms into the picture. The club is trying to encourage the kids and have been fantastic teachers for them. I do enjoy the men in the club. They are a welcoming group of guys that definately have a geek tendancy, or is it just bonsai OCD I am seeing?. My son is a geek (we celebrate the word) and he feels very comfortable with the group. Here is a link to one of my favorite articles about geeks and bonsai http://www.bonsaigardener.org/bonsa...nst-stress.html Any which way, encouraging more people, young and old, male and female, into the art is a great thing. I like the cross generational relationships. It feels more like family.

Helping clubs to understand the challenges of "family" schedules and bonsai club expectations is important. Structuring meetings to include kids is a change for clubs that have been mostly retired men. If the decision makers aren't in the same season of life they don't look at the calendar with the same perspective. We have baseball season during the spring show season. This limited our ability to participate in both days of our two day show. The club was understanding about it. Our state convention is scheduled with Halloween right in the middle of it so I am limited to one day of participation at either end. I really, really want to go to the whole convention, and earn credit for our club, but I can't skip out on my kids. I bet there are other younger bonsai dads and moms who have the same conflict. I voiced this issue to the state pres. so maybe next year convention won't conflict.

Maybe young women and men (even middle aged like me) should get involved in leadership. Our suggestions might increase the accessibility of the art to working folks and families. Gaining younger participation keeps the art growing.

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"What I like about bonsai is that it has a beginning but no end. A bud today becomes a branch tomorrow. It is like searching for the rainbw's end; the farther it is pursued, the farther away it is." John Naka