Womens Cycling

I was interested in this article in The Times about the Muslim Ladies Cycling Club. It tells how, despite opposition from some of their own community leaders, muslim women were enjoying the opportunity to learn how to cycle in London, giving a new sense of freedom.

It reminded me of how cycling was embraced by women in the late Victorian age as an opportunity to gain a new sense of freedom.

As cycling evolved in the early nineteenth century it was typically the preserve of men.   The nineteenth century was a time when women were rarely seen taking part in sport apart from the odd game of croquet and tennis (with ankle length skirts of course).

However, with the development of the safety bike (basic design which is still recognisable today) in the 1880s and 1990s, women groups were quick to see the liberating potential of the bike. It was embraced by the suffragette / feminist movement as enabling a new sense of independence and economic freedom.

The potential of the bike, helped develop women’s dress to be less restrictive and enabling more practical clothes, rather than the full length bloomers which were popular in Victorian England. As Susan B. Anthony said:

“Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel…the picture of free, untrammelled womanhood.”

Even the straight laced president of the women’s Christian temperance movement, Frances Willard, wrote a book explaining the joys of cycling – “How I learnt to ride the bike.”

Yet, although the bike played an important role in giving women a new sense of freedom, there was opposition to women’s cycling for a long time. It took many years for women to be accepted in racing circles. The great Beryl Burton missed out on the chance of Olympic medals, because female cycling wasn’t included in the Olympics until 1984.

Yet, the bike has always been a very accessible form of transport. It’s cheapness and simplicity means it is very easy for people to take up cycling and the greater freedom the bike brings has bought important consequences for social change.

Related

• Womens Cycling Clothes