There’ve been healthy volumes of words penned regarding how fewer women ride bicycles in the U.S. than do men. Strive as many might to be gender-inclusive in the perennially male-dominated multiverse of cycling, women comprise a minority fraction of the bicycling public. The theories hypothesized for this disparity are myriad. Regardless, the number of women riding safely and confidently is increasing in the United States and internationally.
Last week, Rebel Metropolis featured a homemade pod-cast of sorts located HERE. Therein, my dear friend Meg Brennan discusses her own experiences on bikes, the obsessive safety culture that deters more people from riding, and the gender issues inherent to cycling as a movement. As an admitted novice just years ago gaining superlative confidence in riding as traffic, her experiences are at once common and unique. Her point of view affords lessons and understanding all genders can appreciate.
In keeping with a growing tradition of photo documentary on this blog, please enjoy the below collection of images of women and their bikes. There’s seldom a more authentic barometer of the ways cycling is reshaping urban existence than through the lens of simple photographic observation.
To view a previous selection of portraits gathered from Tumblr, click here >> ‘Every Car a Murder, Every Bike a Love Affair’.
See you in the streets.
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“I began to feel that myself plus the bicycle equaled myself plus the world, upon whose spinning-wheel we must all learn to ride, or fall into the sluiceways of oblivion and despair. We saw that the physical development of humanity’s mother-half would be wonderfully advanced by that universal introduction of the bicycle. We saw with satisfaction, the great advantage in good fellowship and mutual understanding between men and women who take the road together, sharing its hardships and rejoicing in the poetry of motion.”
~ Frances Elizabeth Willard, 1895 – from ‘A Wheel Within A Wheel‘
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