Mountain guide, instructor, cyber-feminist, soldier, association president, author, mother of two... Marion Poitevin is that kind of pioneering woman, a symbol and role model in her own right. We caught up with her to talk activism, sexism, empowerment, outdoor living and sustainable tourism!
Hello Marion! First of all, could you please tell us a little about yourself?
Marion Poitevin: I'm 38 and the mother of 2 children aged 4 and 1. I wear many hats: I'm a mountain guide, a CRS mountain rescuer, a climbing instructor and also a lecturer. I want to break through the ice ceiling that so many women in the mountains experience. In fact, that's the title and purpose of my book, "Briser le plafond de glace" ("Breaking the ice ceiling"),
How did you become this militant spokesperson for women in the mountains, and more specifically in mountaineering?
M.P: It's a role I decided to take on, even if it wasn't easy, because there's a real lack of visibility for women in the media!
Having been the first woman to join the high mountain military school in 2008, and then the first female mountain rescue officer, I've acquired a sort of calling card on the subject. It was important to me to get things moving, to be able to share these professional opportunities with other women, and to have friends to work with... I've only had a female colleague with me for 2 years, and there are 30 of us!
"Mountaineering is an expensive, closed and elitist sport".
When it comes to extreme sports, and mountaineering in particular, how do you explain the fact that there are so few women?
M.P: First of all, mountaineering is an expensive sport. This is an obstacle, especially for women, who earn 30% less than men for the same job and level of education.
It's also a very closed and elitist sport, with a kind of entre-soi. And it's a sport that suffers from clichés about women: "*they don't take risks, they're not tough, they're scared, they always have to pee, they can't read a map..."...*Clearly, this doesn't encourage women to take the plunge!
When I started climbing myself, I used to put up barriers when I went out to practice. If my mates couldn't get over a wall, I told myself it wasn't even worth trying.
Is the difference in physical strength between men and women an obstacle to mountaineering or climbing?
M.P: Well, yes, this physical difference isn't completely untrue, but we're still talking about sports that were created by men for men!
I'd also recommend Victoire Tuaillon's podcast, "Cro-magnon, ce gentleman", in which she unpacks the ancestral clichés of the mammoth hunter and the woman at the bottom of the cave, which are often used to justify gender role differences.
Mountaineering changes the rules because it's a very long and intense sport, and you have to meet a number of conditions to succeed, such as knowing how to observe the terrain, having the right equipment, the right companions... so it's really not pure physical strength that's going to come first.
In climbing, there's that female icon, Lynn Hill, who, in 1993, was the first to free-climb "The Nose" in Yosemite Valley. Once at the top, she was quoted as saying: "It goes guys! Proof that women have plenty of room in this sport!
"Symbolically, women occupy an indoor role. Outdoor helps them break free from this cliché".
We know it's important to have more female role models. How can we get more of them?
M.P: We need to improve the visibility of women in the media. If we take mountaineering, for example, communication is very performance-oriented. Women's best performances are less than men's, so nobody talks about them, and that's a shame!
And women need to learn to recognize their own achievements, because they still tend to underestimate their own accomplishments.
In your opinion, does the outdoors have a role to play in women's empowerment?
M.P: Yes, of course! But in French, the word still sounds strange to many of us, which proves that we have a problem with the concept.
Symbolically, women occupy an "indoor" role, at home. So ultimately, the outdoor world encourages them to free themselves from these clichés!
It also helps build self-confidence. When I became a young woman, I was quickly made to understand that I wasn 't capable. So I turned to the pursuit of performance: it was a real source of motivation and helped me to do everything I've achieved today.
But there are a lot of barriers to going into "nature". In the imagination, it's something dirty, uncontrollable, inexplicable, even mysterious, and a bit scary. Nature has often been denigrated, which has allowed man to exploit it under the guise of having to control this wild thing.
"At the top of the mountain, the diktat of beauty doesn't exist. Societal pressure on women escapes".
What are the benefits of mountain sports on the body and mind? How have they shaped you?
M.P: I understood quite late on why I loved these sports and the mountains.
In retrospect, I realized that physical strength had been very important. I did my first race at the age of 14-15, I trained a lot and that helped me gain confidence in myself and in my physical strength, especially as a woman where I very quickly understood that men could be predators.
There's a second thing that helped me as a teenager: at the top of the mountain, the dictates of beauty don't exist. You can dress however you like, have halos under your arms, be unshaven... Societal pressures and constraints are completely removed.
Now that I have two children, there's also an ecological aspect at stake. Before, the mountains were my gym, it wasn't a natural environment, I was detached from living things, it was my workplace. Today, I'm aware of the importance of protecting this fragile environment, and I want to help spread the word.
How do you teach your children to protect the mountain environment, and pass on your passion for these activities?
M.P: I think it's mainly through respect and example. For example, I set up the "Lead the climb" association, affiliated to the Fédération française des clubs alpins et de montagne (FFCAM), which works to improve the under-representation of women in mountain activities.
As for passing on my knowledge, I don't want to force them to take up these very dangerous sports, which involve a lot of risk.
On the other hand, my daughter won't have the choice of skiing until she's at least 18 (laughs)!
"To tame the mountains, we need to help people venture out on their own with a map and a rucksack".
What can be done to encourage people to take up outdoor activities, while at the same time protecting the mountains?
M.P: It's always a dilemma! If there are too many people in the mountains, we lose interest completely. On the other hand, we need to develop curiosity and means of access. I think we need to encourage people to venture out with a map and a rucksack, thanks to people who know the mountains and can guide them. That's why I created the Lead the Climb club, to encourage women to take the lead in mountain sports!
Do you think that getting moving, disconnecting from social networks/phones, can help us keep our mental equilibrium?
M.P: Of course, nature helps us to feel better. But I don't think we should be caricatural. Social networking helped me a lot personally, at a time when I felt very alone as a woman.
I'm a cyber-feminist, and I think the magic of networks lies in the fact that we can turn them into something strong and positive depending on the media/people we follow. What depresses me is the weather we can have in January. We call it Solastalgia.
"It makes me optimistic to see how creative people can be to travel differently, whether by bike or train".
What do you think about sustainable tourism? What needs to change to preserve this mountain?
M.P : It makes me optimistic to see how creative people can be to travel differently, whether by bike or train... There are lots of things to do, and I have faith in the new generations! We need to find a balance between tourism and preserving the natural world around us.
