Woman Martial Art Masters!

[TallAdam85]

Last night I saw the movie kill bill. There was lots of woman fighting and it made me think. I have meet many woman black belts but not many woman master only a few is this all over or just in michigan? Why don't have many woman masters? Does any one know why there is not more woman masters? I feel 1 woman master out there for every 25 man masters that sound about right ?

 

[stickarts]

it may be because martial arts has only become more popular with women in the last 15 - 20 years?
This is just a guess.
I remember when i first started karate that only about 15% of the students were women.
in my school now, over 50% are women!
I am glad to see this since there are lots of very talented women!

 

[7starmantis]

How are you defining the term "master"?

I do think some of it is because MA have only become popular with women recently.

7sm

 

[tshadowchaser]

I know of a few women Masters and one who is a GrandMaster. That title being passed down to her when her instuctor died.
If you count styles that give a belt away (for $) every 3 or 4 months there are most likely many masters but if you count only those that fought the men and worked 8-10 years to even reach their first black I do not think there are many out there

 

[rmcrobertson]

It's probably got something to do with guys' fascination with terms like, "Masters."

 

[pknox]

I think it somewhat depends on what arts you are looking at. While women seem to be pretty underrepresented in grappling arts and in full-contact (although in both cases that is changing), it seems, at least in my experience, that the Chinese arts have a higher percentage than others. Wing Chun was supposedly founded by a woman, Lily Lau is an accomplished Eagle Claw master, and there are quite a few female Tai Chi masters. I have also seen my fair share of pretty high ranking female TKD and Tang Soo Do practitioners.

It also depends on how you define the word "Master" -- do you mean someone who is above a certain rank (say 5th dan), or in the case of styles without rank, someone who is been practicing for a certain number of years? Or is a "Master" only someone who is the leading practitioner or founder of the style? In the case of the former, I'm guessing there are actually quite a few females out there, they just might not be as known. As for the latter, that is a very small group in general, regardless of gender.

 

[tshadowchaser]

I think that back 20 years ago when much of the sparring was bare fisted that many women shyed away from such contact. Being battered around or just getting in there and battleing then comeing home black and blues was not an atractive idea for many women.
Today with all the padding and light cotact in many schools we are seeing more women gaining higher rank

 

[TonyM.]

In northern new england besides the obligitory tai qi instructors there are many black belts and instructors in TKD and Okinawan Karate that are women. Some are quite good.

 

[Rich Parsons]

Originally posted by rmcrobertson
It's probably got something to do with guys' fascination with terms like, "Masters."

Yes, Robert the counter term Miss or Mistress just does not fit well

Seriously, Many people have mentioned good ideas and concepts of why. As the popularity increased in general it also increased with women as well. Given Culture and society, those of allowing women to learn the higher techniques and the women who want to learn the higher techniques. And just maybe it was that women did not find it to their liking to also deal with the politics.

Personally if she or he has talent then the rank does not matter to me.
:asian:

 

[7starmantis]

Originally posted by pknox
Lily Lau is an accomplished Eagle Claw master, and there are quite a few female Tai Chi masters.

Lily Lau is what I would consider, and is considered by many, to be a master. In CMA "officially" a master is one who has a student who has students. A grand-master is one who has a student who has a student who has students. Kind of confusing written out that way! In such case, Lily Lau is considered a Grand-Master in Eagle Claw, and trust me, she has extremely high skill level as well. We use her phrase in class, "Very Painful". She says that allot when showing a chin na move or something, and trust me, it is!!

7sm

 

[Cruentus]

Originally posted by rmcrobertson
It's probably got something to do with guys' fascination with terms like, "Masters."

LOL that was pretty good..:rofl:

 

[Cruentus]

I know that in many cultures women aren't a part of the "warrior class," and the notion of women empowering themselves is really only a fairly recent one (last 20-40 years or so). There still aren't as many women who are infantry or special ops. or military today. Most women who are taking martial arts now are doing it to learn "self-defense," and not doing to use it in war, or to master a fighting system.

However, more and more women are getting interested in Martial Arts to the same degree as the men, so I am sure that we will see more and more women masters sprouting up overtime.

 

[Astra]

Originally posted by PAUL
and not doing to use it in war

And who excactly is, these days?

 

[Cruentus]

Originally posted by Astra


And who excactly is, these days?

Right...obviously warfare is differen't these days, where the need for close-quarter combat is almost non-existant today. I was just making the parallel between the "warrior class" of the past and today. Most of our "martial arts" we practice derived from a warrior class of different cultures where women didn't commonly fight, and during a time where close quarters combat was a nessecity.

 

[pknox]

Originally posted by PAUL
Right...obviously warfare is differen't these days, where the need for close-quarter combat is almost non-existant today. I was just making the parallel between the "warrior class" of the past and today. Most of our "martial arts" we practice derived from a warrior class of different cultures where women didn't commonly fight, and during a time where close quarters combat was a nessecity.

Interesting. In some places, close quarters combat is still considered a neccessity, but not necessarily the primary way to fight if given a choice. Part of it has to do with the mentality that being in close combat brings to a soldier. I just saw this video today, and it talks a bit about it:

http://www.graciemiami.com/videos/entrevistas/rangers.wmv

 

[Cruentus]

Originally posted by pknox
Interesting. In some places, close quarters combat is still considered a neccessity, but not necessarily the primary way to fight if given a choice. Part of it has to do with the mentality that being in close combat brings to a soldier. I just saw this video today, and it talks a bit about it:

http://www.graciemiami.com/videos/entrevistas/rangers.wmv

Right...but the reality is, the average soldier today gets about 15-20 hours of training. That's all they need, because the likely-hood that they'll be caught in a close-quarters combat situation is very low. So...I understand that it is an important part of their training...but it's a very small part just the same.

Nice video...I've seen it before but nice link.

 

[pknox]

True. But I think part of what the guy was saying is that by distilling everything down to a smaller number of moves and positioning it more as a fight strategy, 5-15 hrs would be enough to make them better fighters. Keep in mind as well that those guys are Rangers -- definitely in better shape than your standard soldier, and they have more combat training as well, so they are very used to "learning on the job." Perhaps 5-15 hrs of concepts would be enough for a Ranger or Spec Ops guy, but I agree that it might be challenging for your average soldier to thrive with such limited training.

Interestingly enough, the Marines have expanded their hand-to-hand quite a bit in the last year or so, and have evidently started using a rank-based system as well:

http://www.mcu.usmc.mil/TbsNew/Pages/Martial_Arts/

 

[Ender]

I kinda like the "Mistress" title...*L....

maybe we should change it to something like "Honorable so and so"

 

[Kempo Guy]

Traditional (Koryu) Naginata (glaive/halberd) systems in Japan traditionally have had women masters. Also, the "Atarashii Naginata" (similar to Kendo but using naginata) also have a lot of high ranked women teachers (shihan grade).

 

[James Kovacich]

Originally posted by 7starmantis
Lily Lau is what I would consider, and is considered by many, to be a master. In CMA "officially" a master is one who has a student who has students. A grand-master is one who has a student who has a student who has students. Kind of confusing written out that way! In such case, Lily Lau is considered a Grand-Master in Eagle Claw, and trust me, she has extremely high skill level as well. We use her phrase in class, "Very Painful". She says that allot when showing a chin na move or something, and trust me, it is!!

7sm

I thought it was Gini that was Grandmaster?