Among other things, being a female in the climbing world holds some female climbers back. They think that because they are female they can’t do as well as some of the men in the sport. They assume that they don't stand a chance because they can’t become as strong as them or build the body mass that the male climbers are able to build. Ashima Shiraishi is changing people's views of women and youth climbers. Ashima Shiraishi is the world's best female rock climber. Shiraishi is a 15 -year -old girl who took the climbing world by a storm in 2011 during her first IFSC World Championship. Since then she has continued pushing the boundaries of climbing in new directions. In 2015 she won the World Championships, in 2016 she became the first female to climb an 8c Boulder problem. Ashima is driven to succeed,; she pushes herself harder than anyone else. Shiraishi is also one of the only female climbers, and the youngest person to send V15. She is pushing the female category toward leading the sport. One of the issues that some female climbers are starting to debate is the “FFA” or First Female Ascent,. mMany female climbers are asking for their first ascents not to be categorized as the first female ascent but just as the first ascent of the climb. When Ashima sends a V15, it isn’t about having the FFA, it's about sending a V15 so it shouldn't be about whether or not you are a female. A send is a send, it doesn't matter what your gender is. She is also making it easier for the youth community to do well. She has given the youth someone to look up to. In my mind if someone else can do it than so can I, and if she can beat many male climbers to the top of a climbs so can anyone else who wants to. I think that as long as you have an example or a role model then everything becomes easier and more manageable. Many of my friends who climb look up to Ashima and because of that when we see her competing against adults. , Eespecially when we see her completing the female routes and then going on to completing the males routes, even when the male qualifiers can’t complete them, and drives them to compete more and to strive to win.
I think that females should be considered equal to men in the climbing world, as they are completing things that some men can’t complete. They are strong, driven, and extremely talented. Ashima is one of many female climbers that are bringing this sport into the modern times where women are equal to men. I think that as a female I should be able to compete against whom ever I want to compete against. There are many female climbers who are stronger and overall better climbers than men but they don't get the same recognition that men do.