Seeing Is Believing
What do women who cycle look like?
Clearly, this is a ludicrous question. It’s like asking what a chair looks like – chairs may well share a few common features, but chairs come in all shapes, sizes, colours and textures.
However, it is a relevant question, especially if you are a woman who does not yet cycle and you are wondering if cycling might be for you.
It is not uncommon to hear women explaining why they don’t cycle with phrases like, ‘I’m not fit enough’, ‘I’m overweight’, ‘I don’t have the right clothes’, ‘my bike isn’t very good’. All of these justifications stem from misconceptions about what a woman on a bike ‘should’ look like.
Women on Bikes in the Media
Women are in the minority at all levels of cycling, true. But if you look at the media – particularly the cycling media – you could be forgiven for thinking there are no female cyclists. In cycling magazines and on cycling websites it is not uncommon to find few or no pictures of women. ‘Women’s cycling’ is still presented as a sub-set of cycling as a whole – like gravel biking or road biking.
But the issue is not just how few images of women are used to portray ‘cyclists’, it is also what those images show, and how they are used. In 2017, Cycling Weekly published an article about a club with the caption ‘token attractive woman’. The magazine’s editor issued a full apology, blaming a sub editor and calling the caption ‘idiotic’. Apparently, the mistake did not reflect the culture in the Cycling Weekly office. Irrespective of the offensive ‘token’ comment, I have yet to see a mistake where they comment on the attractiveness or otherwise of a male cyclist. I have also yet to buy another issue of Cycling Weekly.
Two years prior to this, in 2015, there was this beauty of a tweet from Colnago. Again, an apology was issued. Again, you have to wonder at the mindset and culture which allowed someone to think that this was ever going to be acceptable. Again, I won’t be rushing out to spend money with Colnago.
The Cycling Weekly and Colnago examples are probably around the worst the cycling media has to offer. Negative imagery is not usually that blatant and tends to centre more around a failure to include women.
It is worth mentioning that this bias is not seen in all cycling media. Singletrack magazine has a 50% female editorial team…and it shows.Mountain biking is not so much my thing, but if it was, that would be where my money would go.
The Image on the Streets
It is not only images of women on bikes in the media which is important. It is what we see around us. I remember going to a talk as part of the Edinburgh Festival of Cycling a couple of years back. The Transport and Environment Convener for Edinburgh, Lesley Macinnes spoke about how she came to take up cycling around the city with the aid of her e-bike. What stuck with me was when she talked about looking at other people on bikes as she rode around Edinburgh and wondering ‘where are all the other people who look like me?’
I see lots of women on bikes who look like Lesley Macinnes. Women who are not the youngest, not the skinniest and not the fastest. Women who would not dream of wearing lycra. I see all sorts of women on bikes because I actively look for them, because I am very much focused on women on bikes. I lead rides for women on bikes, I coach women on bikes, I write about women on bikes. I follow women’s bike racing. I go on and on and on about supporting more women to get on bikes.
You Can’t Be What You Can’t See
If you look around and you don’t see other people who look like you riding bikes, then it becomes so much harder to see yourself riding a bike.
It is not that all kinds of women are not out there, riding bikes. It it that women are in the minority, so the diverse images of women on bikes which we need to see are harder to find.
We need to make women like me, women like you, women like all the many different kinds of women out there, on bikes, more visible. We need to shout about the fact that all kinds of women do cycle. Not only do all sorts of women ride bikes, they also build bikes, mend bikes, race bikes, write about bikes, coach others on bikes, lead others on bikes. Women are a part of all aspects of cycling and we need to make that clear.
Ordinary Women Doing Extraordinary Things
In 2016, the London Bike Kitchen hosted an evening discussion on how women’s cycling is portrayed in the media. The discussion highlighted the same issues which I have discussed. In the Total Women’s Cycling article about the event, a quote from Chris Garrison struck me:
‘Let’s recognise that women cyclists are not all the same – and then celebrate our diversity by sharing our stories – the stories of ordinary women, doing extraordinary things.’
She is absolutely right.
There are some incredible women on bikes in history and this is something which fascinates me. A while ago I started writing a series, ‘The Bicycle Belles’ about some of these women. I wrote about the amazing stories of Annie Londonderry and Alfonsina Strada. More recently I discovered more awesome women in researching the history of the Women’s Tour de France. I love to read and have just finished The Greatest by William Fotheringham about the incomparable Beryl Burton.
It is possible to find stories of ordinary women, doing extraordinary things. Each year, Cycling UK runs a Women’s Festival of Cycling. There are many things I love about this celebration of ‘everything that’s great about women’s cycling’. One in particular is their ‘100 Women in Cycling’.
100 Women in Cycling has run since 2017 and I love seeing the pictures and reading the stories of these inspirational women each year. I highly recommend looking this up.
Ordinary Women Doing Ordinary Things
I love projects like the 100 Women in Cycling. I love hearing about the amazing achievements of these incredible women in cycling. They are awesome women and they are an inspiration. They deserve to be recognised and celebrated.
But what about the vast majority of women? The women who do not have the time or the inclination to do extraordinary things? The women who just ride a bike. The women who ride every day, or once in a while. The women who ride in jeans, or in lycra, or in skirts and dresses. The women who ride alone, or with their children, or with a club. The women who ride for sport, or for fitness, or for transport, or the sheer joy of it. The women who wear helmets, or don’t wear helmets. The women like you and I.
The ordinary women doing the very ordinary thing of riding their bike.
I really like the principle of the This Girl Can campaign. I like the fact that it shows ordinary women being active in their ordinary lives. I like the way it aims to change the image of what an active women looks like. I’ve got to say I’m not mad keen on the name – it’s been a long time since I thought of myself as a ‘girl’ – still, it’s hard to get everything right.
I think we need more of this in cycling. More images of ordinary women doing ordinary things, on bikes.
That thought gave me an idea, and I need your help again…
The Women On Bikes Project
I want to create a HUGE gallery of images of women on bikes. Ordinary women, extraordinary women, any women.
Women like YOU!
In the words of the wonderful Jools Walker:
These images can be just an image, or they can be a link through to a piece of writing. The writing could be a mini biography to tell everyone why you cycle, where you cycle, what got you into cycling, anything else you like about your cycling. It can include more photos of you and your bike if you like. It can also include links to your favourite cycling project, your cycling business, your cycling work, whatever you want to tell the world about. For example, this is my page for Women on Bikes where I include links to my coaching business, Active Cycle Coaching.
For any cycling businesses or projects run by or for women (or predominantly by or for women) I am aiming to creating another page to map these to create a resource for anyone searching for this. Basically, free advertising.
I have started to put this together to give you an idea of what I have in mind and you can view it here. Please bear in mind that right now, this is just me, a couple of friends and some posts I wrote in the past. For all my talk of diversity, it is frankly not very diverse! This is where I really need your help. Please please, send me your images and spread the word. You do not need to be nominated, you just need a picture and you need to email it to mummysgoneacycle@gmail.com
An article in the Guardian last year discussing how to get more women cycling quoted research from a study in London which found that:
‘49% of people in London say they do not feel cycling is for “people like them”. More diverse and inclusive imagery of cyclists (in policy documents, in the media and on city streets) could help challenge these perceptions and make more people feel that cycling is for everyone.’
Let’s show everyone that cycling is for every woman. After all, seeing is believing.
This is a fantastic post. It’s great to highlight women’s cycling. I am starting to feel that we are just starting a new era where we are starting to be taken more seriously. Although there’s still a long way to go in top level sport, there’s certainly a change starting from the bottom up.
I also write a blog aimed specifically for women cyclists, although it does have a reasonable male readership as well. I’d love to join up with you on your project.
I’ve added my blog address below.
Hi Marcia. I’m so glad you liked the post. Your website looks great – what an exciting challenge you have coming up! I would love to include you in the Women on Bikes page if you could send me a picture and a bit about you then I will add you in and create a page for you which can link to your website. Also, I noticed you are involved in a club in your area, it would be great to include this in the Recommended Cycle Clubs project if you are able to get involved. You’ll find all the details of what to do on the project page at https://www.mummysgoneacycle.com/the-recommended-cycle-clubs-project/ You can email me at mummysgoneacycle@gmail.com Best of luck with your JOGLE attempt – I look forward to hearing all about it!
I’m male and loved this post. The more people cycling for all purposes the better – and that means we need women cycling too. I wonder if women cycling may actually help lead the way to a better transport culture – we men, after all, are more prone to Lycra and weekend toys than practical transport.
I’m so glad you liked it! You may well have a point there. My husband and I are both lifelong cyclists. We both ride for fitness and sport and have road bikes and lycra cycle kit. He is more inclined to get in the car when it comes to transport. This is where I think a major point is often missed – it is still women who tend to do the bulk of the childcare, so if we want to get more women to cycle, we need infrastructure which is also safe for children to ride their bikes on.