The traditional sexist thinking that dictated the rules of behavior in a society, and mainly for interfering in the action, being and thinking of women, preventing them from being what they wanted to be, was the main line of thought decades ago.
The job market was limited, and women basically stayed at home, their hair had to be mostly long and depending on the occasion it should be tied up so as not to sound vulgar, not to mention the makeup that should be discreet so as not to be seen and judged as a prostitute. This is all out of respect for her partner. Short hair? No way, as female honor would be hurt and it would be considered a sin to resemble a man. Single mother? Absolutely not. The garments had to look feminine and of course their shoes, sandals or high heels were ideal and what the society expected them to wear.
Nobody asked them if everything was okay, if that was the way they felt comfortable or if that was the way they wanted to live their lives. It is at the very least selfish and tendentious when such this mental model that has been imposed by men during generations.
Although the difficulties are milder, regardless of the sector, sometimes we are faced with questions such as: Why do they have the same position and she earns less? Why there aren’t as many female journalists as men, why there aren’t female athletes for certain sports?
(Jourdan Dunn and Eva Apio)
And as we have written about shoes a little while ago, there is another peculiar problem which originated with the growth of consumption and the culture of sneakers over the last few years. Regardless of the brand or model, the options are varied for the male catalogue, but when girls want to find their 'holy grail', things become more challenging.
(Camille Little, Sue Bird and Swin Cash)
The female consumption of shoes, whether for sports practice or for casual wear, is evidently noticed, but unfortunately the brands do not seem to have this same thought and do not recognize this market as being a niche that generates income, at least not as much as the male segment. But why is that?
We talked to some female sneakerheads and shoes enthusiasts to get their opinion on why female grail sneakers are hard to find:
DAMARIES NEGRON – SNEAKER COLLECTOR
“As a female sneaker collector in the game there’s a lot of issues that I face. One of the issues is there isn’t enough product for women. Size inclusivity is an issue because not all releases commodore women, nor men as well but mainly women. For example lebron south beach 8. The retro will not release in sizes smaller than a 3.5Y. When these released 10 years ago, GS sizes were available. Stuff like this needs to stop because then us women can’t experience the retro. I hope brands are watching us and hearing our voices because we are still dealing with issues...”
ANDREA MARTINS – ENGLISH TEACHER AND SNEAKER COLLECTOR
“The shoe market in Brazil works only for men and for a very simple reason: Sexism makes women think, for instance, that basketball is just for men. In addition to that, our culture has always been one of femininity, of exalting the feminine aspect. Sneakers were never seen as a symbol of femininity or as an item belonging to women, so it's very complicated to talk about it... Because it comes from a sexist root, that women, for example, don't understand basketball, this thought was never really there. In basketball, all women who play are seen with different eyes, so a lot contributes for us not to have access to the grails today. And unfortunately, in my opinion, I don't see a perspective of change in this scenario, because it is something that has been deeply rooted, but we are little by little conquering our spaces.
One of the reasons why brands say they don't bring sneakers is because there is no demand, because of low sales are and mostly because we live in a sexist society that excludes women.
Because of these limitations, I often had to rely on the help of friends to buy sneakers from abroad when the dollar was cheaper. As I wear a 5, I had to buy the GS (Graded School) and even so, even out there, there were women who had difficulty finding their size. Not to mention that the quality of these sizes is not the same as that of adults...”
DEBORA TAYLOR - AMATEUR ATHLETE AND FOUNDER OF PRJCT//RUN
“My passion for sneakers has been around since I was a child, but due to the financial conditions of my family, I had to buy only what I could afford and when I could spend the money. Small size in Brazil is very difficult to find and come by and when we want a specific color or silhouettel, it is even worse, not to mention that it is very expensive. When a certain release or a limited edition is launched, sizes are very limited and even though I am 5.9 feet and I wear a 7.5, I can't find them. And even when it’s available on some brands' websites, they sell out very quickly.
I don't care if a shoe is made for females or males. Through running, I was able to visit other countries and thus find the shoes I like more easily. Nowadays, access in Brazil is better, but I can't understand why it's still a challenge to find them...”
LUCY HORN – STREETOPIA OPERATIONAL MANAGER WHO ROCKS ONLY COOL SNEAKERS
“I believe that the most conveying difficulty women have in the domestic market today is precisely because the figures prove that men are ahead of the sneaker market. The Brazilian shoe market is not prepared for the number of women who are looking for the grails they would like to collect, and if we look at it in surveys, most women in Brazil have wear a smaller size. I am happily the exception to this rule because I wear a 6.5 and I can always find what I want in the male options.
We also consume basketball, we consume fashion and sometimes much more than men. Historically, women earn less than men, so the prices, depending on the shoe, end up being surreal and far from our reality. So we need to struggle a bit more financially when sneakers are launched for us to be able to buy it.
These are important factors for us to reflect within this shoe market scenario and also fight against them so we can have greater purchase power...”
PATRÍCIA OLIVEIRA – IMPLEMENTATION ANALYST AND SNEAKERS ENTHUSIAST
"It's very complex to talk about this subject, because usually when some silhouettes come to Brazil, they come in limited quantities and we know that the sneaker universe is still very masculine. We can see this in shoe stores, for example, there are many saleswomen there. And I don't really believe in this sex classification by shoes model. It is obvious in some brands there are formats and sizes of sneakers for women and men. I think that each one wears what they like and incorporates shoes in their own style, and style is connected to experience and that we just don't build overnight.
If we take it literally, and if we consider sizes, women's always come in a common model and for men there is an abundancy of limited silhouettes, so there are few women who can enjoy it, myself included.
Women are even more lacking in the front lines of brands – The most famous silhouettes always have a connection with the male figure, like a player, a rapper. Women-inspired sneakers are yet to be representative. It’s just very sad..!"
We look forward to changing this scenario and thus having the most desired silhouettes and grails available in a more plural and unrestricted way.
