Picture this: Princess Kelea of Maui, crushing waves in the 1400s. She wasn’t just good—she was the best surfer on her entire island. Nearly 600 years ago.
Most people think surfing belongs to the guys. Wrong. Female surfing has deep roots in Polynesia, and the story will blow your mind.
Here’s what’s crazy. Before 2019, women surfers got scraps for prize money. We’re talking $200 while men took home $1,500 for the same competition. Some women earned just 13% of what men made. The World Surf League finally fixed this mess, becoming the first major sports organization to pay everyone equally.
But here’s the thing—women have always been wave warriors. From Linda Benson charging 20-foot monsters in 1959 to today’s champions dominating lineups worldwide.
This story takes you on a wild ride:
- Ancient Hawaii where women ruled the waves
- The 1960s surf revolution and the fight for respect
- Princess Kaiulani keeping traditions alive
- Modern champions finally getting their due
Get ready to discover how female surfers went from equals to outcasts—and back to the top where they belong.
Surfing in Ancient Hawaii: The Forgotten Origins
Ancient Hawaii had it right. Surfing wasn’t just a sport—it was sacred. And women? They absolutely dominated the waves.
Princess Kelea and early female surfers
Let’s talk about Princess Kelea some more. This woman was obsessed with surfing. When her brother King Kawao wanted to arrange her marriage, she straight up told him “the surf-board was her husband.”
Talk about priorities.
Her love story gets wild. An Oahu chief saw her surfing skills and basically kidnapped her. She married him, had four kids, lived the royal life inland. But guess what happened? Surf fever hit hard.
Hawaiians called it “hōpūpū”—that desperate need to get back in the water. Kelea ditched her comfortable palace life and went back to the waves. That’s pure surf passion right there.
This wasn’t just some hobby. Surfing was part of who these women were. Their entire identity.
Surfing as a gender-equal tradition
Here’s what blows minds today—ancient Hawaiian surfing was completely equal. Men and women shared the same waves, same respect, same recognition.
Hawaiian women surfers: • Tackled the same gnarly waves as men • Often outperformed the guys • Rode their own custom ‘alaia boards
• Got remembered for skill, not looks
The legends tell stories of fierce female surfers like Laieikawai, Kailiokalauokekoa, and Kapo’ulakina’u. These weren’t pretty princesses sitting on the beach. They were powerful athletes celebrated for their “surfing abilities, prowess, mana and character.”
Some legends even describe women surfers getting revenge on disrespectful guys in the lineup. These women didn’t mess around.
The role of Princess Kaiulani in surf history
Fast forward to the late 1800s. Princess Victoria Ka’iulani became surfing’s savior when missionaries tried killing Hawaiian culture.
This princess was a total water baby: “I love riding, driving, swimming, dancing and cycling… I’m sure I was a seal in another world because I am so fond of the water.”
Her board was no joke—7’4″ of solid koa wood. You can still see it at the Bishop Museum. Takes serious strength and skill to handle that beast.
Ka’iulani kept surfing when everyone told her to stop. She preserved the traditions that connect us to legends like Princess Kelea. Some historians say “surfing was saved from extinction by this brave, bold woman.”
Without her, we might’ve lost this incredible legacy forever.
The ancient Hawaiian way shows us what surfing culture should be—equal, respectful, and focused on pure stoke in the water.
The 20th Century: Barriers and Breakthroughs
The 1900s hit female surfing like a cold wave. Everything changed from those equal Hawaii days. Suddenly, women faced massive obstacles that would’ve made Princess Kelea shake her head.
The impact of heavy wooden boards
Those early 1900s surfboards? Total monsters. We’re talking 14+ feet of solid wood—heavy, wide, and absolutely brutal to handle.
Picture trying to drag a telephone pole to the beach. That’s what women dealt with daily. “Ladies had a rough time hauling the boards down to the beach and getting them out to the lineup. Maneuvering these massive contraptions through oncoming waves was a challenge even for large guys in the prime of their fitness”.
Here’s how bad it got: Mary Ann Hawkins weighed less than her surfboard when she started. Most women simply couldn’t manage these wooden beasts alone. The physical barriers created a gender gap that lasted decades.
Tandem surfing and early solo pioneers
Smart women found a workaround. Tandem surfing let them ride waves without wrestling those heavy boards solo. Two people, one board, pure stoke.
Duke Kahanamoku made history in 1915 at Freshwater Beach with Australian Isabel Letham. She was scared at first—who wouldn’t be? After three attempts, “the young Australian finally stood up on the big and heavy surfboard”. This moment sparked surfing across Australia and inspired women everywhere.
But here’s the reality: “girls were part of the beach scene, [but] few took to riding other than tandem”. Letham pushed further, becoming a swimming coach and organizing San Francisco’s first women’s swimming competition in 1926.
Mary Ann Hawkins and the 1930s movement
Enter the queen of 1930s women’s surfing: Mary Ann Hawkins. Duke Kahanamoku inspired her, but she “taught herself to surf” at fifteen in Corona del Mar.
Her achievements were insane:
- Pacific Coast Women’s Surfboard Championships three straight years (1938-1940)
- National Paddleboard Champion
- Won three of the first five women’s paddleboard races in the 1930s
- Beat men in an 880-yard paddleboard race in 1934
She nearly made the 1936 Olympics as a swimmer and broke Hawaiian freestyle records in 1939.
But success didn’t come easy. A male surfer told her in 1935 that “girls didn’t belong in the surf.” It crushed her confidence: “from then on I always tried to stay out of the way of the boys… I just didn’t get in there and fight”.
That changed. When another dismissive guy challenged her at Malibu, Hawkins caught “a large wave, one of the best rides of her life” to shut him up.
Mary Ann Hawkins became “the darling of the California surf scene”. She proved women belonged in every lineup, setting the stage for future generations to reclaim their waves.
The 1960s to 1980s: Surfing Women Fight for Space
The surf scene got ugly fast. Ancient Hawaiian equality? Gone. Modern female surfers faced a wall of resistance from male-dominated surf culture.
Joyce Hoffman and the rise of competitive female surfers
Joyce Hoffman changed everything. While other surfers chased the “wild and free-spirited” vibe, she got serious. Structured workouts. Weight training. Running. Revolutionary stuff back then.
Her results spoke louder than words:
- Three straight US Surfing Championships (1965-1967)
- Fourth title in 1971
- First woman to surf Banzai Pipeline (1968)
- Los Angeles Times “Woman of the Year” (1965)—only surfer ever honored
Game changer? Absolutely.
Surfing 1960s media portrayal and exclusion
Media coverage was brutal. Check this out—Surfer Magazine completely ignored women’s results at the 1965 Peruvian World Championships.
Male surfers weren’t shy about their feelings either. Buzzy Trent wrote a charming 1963 piece called “Big Waves Are Masculine, Women Feminine.” His take? “One thing I can’t stand is girls riding, or attempting to ride, big waves”.
Women faced impossible standards. Look “feminine, attractive and dress well” but don’t focus too much on appearance. Margo Oberg won world titles in 1968, 1977, 1980, and 1981. She didn’t make a Surfer magazine cover until 1981.
Formation of WISA and early protests
Enough was enough. 1975 became the turning point. Jericho Poppler, Mary Setterholm, and Mary Lou Drummy founded the Women’s International Surfing Association (WISA). Their mission? Fix the ridiculous pay gap—$200 for women vs $150,000 for men.
WISA organized fair competitions. Male surfers responded by refusing to clear lineups during women’s heats.
The biggest fight came in 1989. Huntington Beach OP Pro organizers tried canceling the women’s event entirely. More money for the guys, right? Jorja and Jolene Smith led protests that forced them to back down.
Female surfers endured verbal abuse and had their leg ropes pulled underwater. But they kept fighting. They had to—this sport once welcomed them as equals.
Modern Champions and Global Recognition
The 2000s changed everything. Female surfers finally got the recognition they deserved after decades of fighting for respect.
Famous female surfers of the 2000s and beyond
Layne Beachley owned the early 2000s. This Australian powerhouse grabbed seven World Championship titles—including six straight wins from 1998 to 2006. Her dominance was so complete, Australia made her an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2015.
But Beachley wasn’t alone in making waves:
Bethany Hamilton shocked the world. Lost her arm to a shark attack at 13 in 2003. Did she quit? Hell no. She came back stronger, even beating world champions at the 2016 Fiji Women’s Pro.
Keala Kennelly smashed big-wave barriers while Sofia Mulanovich from Peru made history as the first South American woman to claim a world championship.
These women proved that talent doesn’t recognize borders.
Carissa Moore and Olympic gold
Meet Carissa Moore—the ultimate surfing machine. Started riding Waikiki waves at age five with her dad. Her rise? Lightning fast.
Moore became the youngest WSL World Champion ever at just 18. Then she kept going:
- Five world titles total (2011, 2013, 2015, 2019, 2021)
- First-ever women’s Olympic surfing gold medal in Tokyo 2021
- Only surfer to win WSL world title AND Olympic gold in the same year
Here’s the kicker—this Hawaiian native became the first Hawaiian Olympic surfer since Duke Kahanamoku in 1924. Talk about coming full circle.
Equal pay and WSL reforms
2019 was the game-changer. The World Surf League became the first American-based global sports organization to pay men and women equally across all events.
Before this? Women got screwed. Hard. Some female winners took home just 4,000 rand while men earned 8,000 for the exact same competition.
WSL CEO Sophie Goldschmidt called it “a huge step forward in our long-planned strategy to elevate women’s surfing”. They didn’t stop there:
- Global marketing campaigns spotlighting women’s tours
- Surf clinics for girls at championship stops
- Content series celebrating female surfing pioneers
Carissa Moore summed it up perfectly: “I honestly didn’t see it coming. It’s a huge deal… to be respected as elite athletes alongside the men”.
Finally. Equal respect for equal talent.
Cultural Influence and Media Representation
Media changed everything for female surfing. Movies, documentaries, and brands slowly started telling women’s wave-riding stories the right way. The spotlight finally found them.
Blue Crush and the mainstreaming of female surfing
Blue Crush hit theaters in 2002 and boom—suddenly girls everywhere wanted to surf. Keala Kennelly was a stunt double for the film. She watched it happen: “Oh my God, it was such a boom. I feel like there was such an uptick in the number of women that were in the water after that film. It had a massive impact”.
The movie created what Kennelly calls “a little heyday” for women’s surfing. Women’s surf magazines popped up. Sponsorship opportunities grew. Girls saw themselves on big screens charging waves.
But here’s what’s wild—the studio fought against the film. They wanted to “Fast and Furious it” to grab male viewers instead of keeping “this beautiful story of girls surfing in a very pure way”. Male critics gave it “patronizing reviews” after release.
They missed the point completely. Kennelly puts it simply: “Blue Crush literally made it okay for women to surf”.
Documentaries like Girls Can’t Surf
Girls Can’t Surf tells the real story. No Hollywood gloss—just raw truth about female pros in the 1980s-90s. This “hugely enjoyable” documentary shows how women got “paid less than the men and struggled to get sponsorship” while being treated like “second-class athletes”.
Competition organizers “saved the best waves for the boys, often scheduling women’s heats during the lunch break”. Can you imagine? Lunch break waves for world champions.
The film highlights legends like Pauline Menczer. She won her world title while “suffering from agonizing arthritis” and lived “dollar-to-dollar throughout her professional career”. Equal pay didn’t arrive until 2018—triggered by a viral photo of junior champions. The boy’s prize check was double the girl’s.
The role of surf brands and sponsorships
Surf brands have a messy history with female representation. Roxy was “the first brand in the industry to design specifically and only for women.” Yet even they depicted seven-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore with “strong heteronormative bias in the visual narrative construction” in a 2013 ad.
The pattern was brutal. Women “received little sponsorship or prize money and were largely invisible in the surfing media”. Brands often picked “models over female athletes because of their looks”. Even successful surfers like Alana Blanchard got “dropped by her sponsors when she decided to become a mother”.
Surf media representation is still growing up. The journey from objectification to athletic respect continues. Women are taking back their rightful place in surfing’s cultural story—one wave at a time.
Conclusion
What a ride. From Princess Kelea dominating Maui’s waves in 1445 to Carissa Moore grabbing Olympic gold—female surfing just proved something huge.
This sport started equal. Women weren’t fighting for scraps or begging for respect. They were the best surfers on their islands. Period.
Then came the dark ages. Heavy wooden boards. Sexist attitudes. Prize money so pathetic it was insulting. But here’s the thing about surfer women—they don’t quit.
Mary Ann Hawkins kept charging in the 1930s. Joyce Hoffman smashed barriers in the 1960s. WISA fighters like Jericho Poppler refused to accept second place. They took the hits, organized protests, and never stopped pushing.
2019 changed everything. Equal prize money finally happened. The World Surf League stepped up and made it right.
Now look where we are:
- Olympic gold medals
- Equal pay across competitions
- Films like Blue Crush inspiring new generations
- Carissa Moore connecting modern surfing back to Hawaiian roots
This journey proves something powerful. When women demand their space—whether it’s 20-foot Pipeline or equal paychecks—they reshape the whole game.
Female surfing isn’t just about the waves. It’s about refusing to accept less than you deserve. It’s about honoring the women who came before while blazing trails for those coming next.
Princess Kelea would be proud. The surf is calling, and women are answering—just like they always have.
