review: girls can’t surf

WORDS BY Maya Tlauka

Girls Can’t Surf, directed by Chris Nellius and produced by Michaela Perske, is a triumph of women’s sporting achievement. The film draws attention to the under-recognised legacy of women surfers in the eighties, who pioneered the creation of professional women’s competition in a male-dominated arena.

The film captivates the viewer through its presentation of the iconic eighties fashion, hair, and rebellion. Even for the non-surfer, the excitement and adrenaline of the waves is palpable. This vision is complemented by incisive commentary from retired professional female surfers: Jodie Cooper, Frieda Zamba, Pauline Menczer, Lisa Andersen, Pam Burridge, Wendy Botha and Layne Beachley.

Initially drawn into surf culture by the sense of exhilaration and passion, the women describe the immense cultural challenges they faced in gaining acceptance, recognition, and equality. Despite being inherently pitted against one another in their fight for number one, the women are united in their experience of sexism.

When watching the ascendancy of each new generation of female professional surfers from the eighties onwards, you cannot help but be shocked at the lasting character of sexism in the sport. There is no doubting that the exclusion and marginalisation of women was ingrained into surf culture. In comparison to their male counterparts, female professional surfers were regarded as less skilled, afforded fewer sponsorships, offered less prize money, and expected to surf in poorer conditions.

Through individual and shared experiences, the women carve out space for themselves, exhibiting the power of incremental change. A powerful moment that signalled changing tides in the sport is recalled, describing how at a 1999 South African competition the women collectively refused to surf in the absence of waves. Instead, they sat along the shore in defiance, symbolically rejecting being shoe-horned into being placeholders for men. No longer would they be lunch time entertainment, surfing only when the men were otherwise indisposed.

Perhaps the most valuable aspect of the documentary are the interviews conducted with the former surfing professionals. The women are admirably self-aware and humorous. The viewer cannot interpret their intentions as being anything other than honest, real, and raw.

The legacy of their struggle is evident in the signing of an equal pay deal by the World Surf League in 2019, finally enshrining pay parity decades later. The documentary plays a central role in crediting the female athletes for the advancements regarding gender-equality we see in surfing today. For the viewer wanting to be washed over by the atmosphere of surf culture, entertained, and inspired this documentary is a must.

Girls Can’t Surf is showing in Australian cinemas from March 11 onwards.