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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2014/jun/06/female-cyclists-campaigns-cycling-uk
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| Where's the voice of female cyclists in campaigns, forums and policies? | Where's the voice of female cyclists in campaigns, forums and policies? |
| (2 months later) | |
| It was the Cycling Scotland conference that did it for me finally. A tweet announced their great line up of speakers – every single one of them men. | It was the Cycling Scotland conference that did it for me finally. A tweet announced their great line up of speakers – every single one of them men. |
| And Cycling Scotland – who did manage to rustle up a couple of female speakers in the end – are by no means the only offenders. As I’ve grown more involved in the world of cycle campaigning and cycling generally, I’ve grown used to the fact that boards, panels, speakers – all of them will be dominated by men, even if not these days exclusively male. | And Cycling Scotland – who did manage to rustle up a couple of female speakers in the end – are by no means the only offenders. As I’ve grown more involved in the world of cycle campaigning and cycling generally, I’ve grown used to the fact that boards, panels, speakers – all of them will be dominated by men, even if not these days exclusively male. |
| And yet, if you look around you beyond the conferences, you’ll find a surprising number of women out there getting on with changing the world, helmet hair be damned. From Alison Johnstone, co-convenor of the Scottish parliament’s cross-party group on cycling, to grass roots campaigners like Leeds’ Lizzie Reather and Newcastle’s Katja Leyendecker, who have revived or refounded their cities’ cycle campaigns, women are going out and making waves. | |
| They are starting businesses, like Ana Nichoola, and Cambridge Raincoats, they are the moving force behind projects like Play on Pedals, which has the ambition to teach every four-year-old in Glasgow to ride a bike, and they are proving themselves to be inspiring athletes. | They are starting businesses, like Ana Nichoola, and Cambridge Raincoats, they are the moving force behind projects like Play on Pedals, which has the ambition to teach every four-year-old in Glasgow to ride a bike, and they are proving themselves to be inspiring athletes. |
| Cycling organisations like CTC Scotland are waking up to the fact that they risk overlooking half the available talent, and making a real effort to encourage women to join their boards. Yet, while a few of these women will pop up on conference platforms from time to time, compared with our actual numbers – both doing things and just cycling – we’re still incredibly under-represented. | Cycling organisations like CTC Scotland are waking up to the fact that they risk overlooking half the available talent, and making a real effort to encourage women to join their boards. Yet, while a few of these women will pop up on conference platforms from time to time, compared with our actual numbers – both doing things and just cycling – we’re still incredibly under-represented. |
| As a result, discussion of women and cycling has barely moved on from the tired old non-debate about ‘why women don’t cycle’, even though women make up one quarter of the UK’s cyclists, which, while not brilliant, is hardly none; given the low cycling rates in the UK, you could as usefully agonise about ‘why men don’t cycle’. | As a result, discussion of women and cycling has barely moved on from the tired old non-debate about ‘why women don’t cycle’, even though women make up one quarter of the UK’s cyclists, which, while not brilliant, is hardly none; given the low cycling rates in the UK, you could as usefully agonise about ‘why men don’t cycle’. |
| The terms in which women and cycling are discussed would often shame a Ukip barroom conversation: I for one don’t recognise the imaginary female stereotype who is wheeled out for these debates, someone too lazy (just ask any cycling forum about traffic during the school holidays for an outpouring of vitriol about ‘school run mums’), too timid or too worried about her hair to get on her bike, which will anyway likely be the wrong one, and with the saddle too low. | The terms in which women and cycling are discussed would often shame a Ukip barroom conversation: I for one don’t recognise the imaginary female stereotype who is wheeled out for these debates, someone too lazy (just ask any cycling forum about traffic during the school holidays for an outpouring of vitriol about ‘school run mums’), too timid or too worried about her hair to get on her bike, which will anyway likely be the wrong one, and with the saddle too low. |
| Even among the more thoughtful commentators, we hear that women are ‘an indicator species’ for safe cycling in a city. While I understand the sentiment, I find the wording grates; really, a whole different species? Certainly nothing illustrates better that the public debate about cycling is one largely conducted by men, and on men’s terms and that women are a ‘problem’ to be talked about, rather than people to be actually listened to. | Even among the more thoughtful commentators, we hear that women are ‘an indicator species’ for safe cycling in a city. While I understand the sentiment, I find the wording grates; really, a whole different species? Certainly nothing illustrates better that the public debate about cycling is one largely conducted by men, and on men’s terms and that women are a ‘problem’ to be talked about, rather than people to be actually listened to. |
| Yet, what’s striking, whenever I start to talk with other women about cycling issues, or read women’s cycling blogs, is how much we disagree on. Whether it’s about the importance of women-only bike rides, the need to be competent at bike maintenance, the need for more cycle paths versus more training, even what to wear – well, especially what to wear – there are as many opinions as there are people voicing them. I’ve been known to be reduced to gibbering rage by the ‘shrink it and pink it’ approach to appealing to women, while others welcome the idea of feminine looking kit. Others are outraged at the idea that a women-friendly bike ride must necessarily involve lots of cake and chat instead of serious training, while to me that’s the perfect day out. | Yet, what’s striking, whenever I start to talk with other women about cycling issues, or read women’s cycling blogs, is how much we disagree on. Whether it’s about the importance of women-only bike rides, the need to be competent at bike maintenance, the need for more cycle paths versus more training, even what to wear – well, especially what to wear – there are as many opinions as there are people voicing them. I’ve been known to be reduced to gibbering rage by the ‘shrink it and pink it’ approach to appealing to women, while others welcome the idea of feminine looking kit. Others are outraged at the idea that a women-friendly bike ride must necessarily involve lots of cake and chat instead of serious training, while to me that’s the perfect day out. |
| We are not all mothers, timid, short, slow, or unable to tell one end of a spanner from the other. Some of us are even worried about our hair. What divides us is often far more important than what unites us. And that’s exactly as it should be. | |
| The fact is, women, like men, are a wonderfully varied bunch. If all we ever do is have one token women in our public conversations about cycling, we’ll get just one perspective on all this variety, with all the limitations that brings. And we will lose out on the experience of the women who are out there and doing things and getting tired of not being heard or being told their perspective isn’t relevant. | The fact is, women, like men, are a wonderfully varied bunch. If all we ever do is have one token women in our public conversations about cycling, we’ll get just one perspective on all this variety, with all the limitations that brings. And we will lose out on the experience of the women who are out there and doing things and getting tired of not being heard or being told their perspective isn’t relevant. |
| Inspired by the National Women’s Bicycle Forum across the Atlantic in America, Suzanne Forup and I decided if we wanted a real forum for women’s voices to be heard, in all their variety, then we were going to have to organise something ourselves. The result is the Women’s Cycle Forum, part of the Edinburgh Festival of Cycling. It’s starting small – an evening of round-table discussion led by a panel of women from the world of policy, campaigning, sport, family cycling, social rides, business, and accessible cycling, all of them making real changes to cycling in some way. | Inspired by the National Women’s Bicycle Forum across the Atlantic in America, Suzanne Forup and I decided if we wanted a real forum for women’s voices to be heard, in all their variety, then we were going to have to organise something ourselves. The result is the Women’s Cycle Forum, part of the Edinburgh Festival of Cycling. It’s starting small – an evening of round-table discussion led by a panel of women from the world of policy, campaigning, sport, family cycling, social rides, business, and accessible cycling, all of them making real changes to cycling in some way. |
| The hope is that, through the presentations and discussion and a glass (or two) of wine, that participants, male as well as female, will find ideas – and people – that reflect their dreams and aspirations and inspire them to go out and make a difference in their own way. | The hope is that, through the presentations and discussion and a glass (or two) of wine, that participants, male as well as female, will find ideas – and people – that reflect their dreams and aspirations and inspire them to go out and make a difference in their own way. |
| If it’s successful, then it may become an annual event, a place where these debates can be aired, connections be made, and new campaigns forged that will transform cycling for everyone, not just those pesky women. And ultimately, I hope it will become an embarrassing irrelevance, as women gain equal representation elsewhere. Then, perhaps, the time may have come to start a Men’s Cycle Forum, and I will wish the organisers well. | If it’s successful, then it may become an annual event, a place where these debates can be aired, connections be made, and new campaigns forged that will transform cycling for everyone, not just those pesky women. And ultimately, I hope it will become an embarrassing irrelevance, as women gain equal representation elsewhere. Then, perhaps, the time may have come to start a Men’s Cycle Forum, and I will wish the organisers well. |
| What we won’t do – I hope – is agonise over why ‘women don’t cycle.’Please join us (all welcome) on Saturday 14 June in Edinburgh. | What we won’t do – I hope – is agonise over why ‘women don’t cycle.’Please join us (all welcome) on Saturday 14 June in Edinburgh. |
| • For more details click here | • For more details click here |
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