Bina Bilenky-Trahan and her cherished Bilenky Bike - photo courtesy of Justin Trahan
I learned a long time ago that when you want to create change or incite a movement, you must know why. You must also be able to communicate that why. Because when you do, things happen. Change comes about from inspiring ideas. From those inspiring ideas comes the how – hope, motivation and commitment to action. From that action comes change.
It’s kind of like pedaling a bike. To begin, you need the why. Because it’s fun, because I want to go somewhere, because it makes me feel good, because I can…
With the first pedal stroke comes hope. I can have more fun if I keep pedaling, I can go somewhere if I keep pedaling…
With several pedal strokes comes change. I’ve made it to my destination and damn, that was fun…
At Girl Bike Love, our goal is to positively impact the number of women riding bikes, identifying themselves as cyclists and adopting cycling as a lifestyle. But Why?
Why should we and other advocates be focusing on the female rider? Why its it important to get greater support for women’s racing and events? Why should the cycling industry spend more time marketing to women? Why does it matter if women ride bikes?
We all know what an incredible impact cycling can have on our health, our communities and our environment. Cycling has much more to offer this world than two rubber tires licking the ground below. Simply put, bikes can save us.
With increased cycling in a community comes change, positive change. One must only look to US cities such as Portland, Boulder and Minneapolis, to see the positive growth that has resulted with the development of a strong cycling culture and attention to bicycle infrastructure. Fortunately, many communities are following in their footsteps and the list of Bicycle Friendly Cities gets longer every year.
In order to make this shift in our society on a much larger scale, we need to engage the greatest influencers of all time. WOMEN.
Women are Change Makers
Women make things happen. Women talk, women write blogs and create communities focused around movement. According to the Enthusiast Demographics and Industry Trends Survey recently conducted by Bikes Belong, “…female respondents were more active online. Women were more likely to be on Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, or have a personal blog or website.”
Women are the greatest influencers of all time. Women like to tell of their experiences, encourage and support one another. Women like to share.
For this reason, female cyclists are rarely created individually but more often in groups of two or more. Women share their passions and empower one another to reach their goals.
Midwest Women's Mountain Bike Clinic - photo courtesy of Sub-9 Productions
Invite a woman out on a ride and the first thing she will do is ask her friend to come along. Invite two women out for a ride and you’ll have a whole pack. Invite a dozen women out for a ride and you better close down the streets because it is going to get a little crowded.
Women are Integral to Lifestyle Education
As mothers, educators and health care providers women have a great influence on children and young adults. In the US, women constitute about 70% of public school teachers. The more women that are comfortable with cycling, understanding the health and environmental benefits and how to ride safely, the more women will pass cycling on to others… especially children.
photo courtesy of Yuba Bicycles
Women who are cyclists are going to teach their children, their friends, their friend’s children, their students and their students’ parents that cycling is important. Women who are cyclists are going to encourage youth to ride a bike to school, creating the next generation of bicycle commuters. When women see that the roads aren’t safe for children to ride… they are going to do something about it. Women have an almost 2:1 presence over men in advocacy.
The influence of mothers reaches well in to young adulthood. The nytimes.com reported on The Immutable Influence of Mothers by Melissa Lafsky: “A study released by The University of Melbourne’s School of Behavioural Science shows that a significant number of college students consider their mothers to be the single most significant person in their lives. Out of a survey of university freshmen, 40% listed their moms as the most important and influential person they’d ever known, compared with 25% for fathers, 17% for romantic partners, 12% for friends, and 6% for siblings. According to U. Melbourne associate professor Jennifer Boldero: Dads are important too, but for many generation Y people their mother remains the most important person …”
WOMEN are change makers.
Women Make Financial Decisions
As much as the male population might hate to admit it, women often control the money. The tenth annual “Financial Experience & Behaviors Among Women” study, run by Prudential Insurance found that 95% of women control the financial decisions made in their households from buying cars and houses to everyday purchases. Marketing strategists know that Women control over 85% of all consumer purchasing across every brand category.
Women Are Ambassadors for the Sport
Female bike racers are ambassadors for the sport of cycling and their supporters. Cycling is an expensive, demanding, sometimes brutal sport. With low financial compensation, most women who race bikes professionally must find other means of income. Professional female cyclists are well educated, well spoken and do it for love of sport.
Women with the power to maintain a successful career, raise a family and race bikes must have passion and determination. Women who race bikes make great spokespeople and roll models.
Women are the Future of Cycling
By engaging women in cycling we have an amazing opportunity for impact. Women can help to build strong cycling communities with the potential to grow in to a cycling nation. From these communities, from this cycling nation, we can expect a dramatic improvement in health, connection to the places and people around us and a positive impact on our environment.
So, gentlemen, ah-hem, before you try to convince your wife that you really need that new custom wheelset, why not encourage her to come along for a ride? Maybe the next time another bike finds its way to your home, she won’t mind so much. Maybe, just maybe she will want one for herself. She might even suggest that the kids should be riding too.
Why does it matter if women ride bikes? Because women are the future of cycling.
How do you think we can encourage more women to ride a bike?
Written by Sarai Snyder – Founder, Girl Bike Love – Boulder, Colorado.
As a father of two daughters who love to ride I salute your effort and support you. We all have to do our part to bring people into the sport and share in the lifestyle we all hold dear to our hearts.
This is really a great post that I hope gets wide circulation. Biking outreach that encourages and fosters opportunities for girls riding bikes, like for instance Girl Scout programs with strong parental involvement, or sponsorship by women bike clubs of bike clubs for junior or middle-school girls and similar activities should be considered.
The blog community of female bike riders like you and others is a wholesome, dynamic, even charismatic movement that is exciting and unique, enriching cycling for all of us.
Thank you for a thoughtful read! Jim
Thank you both. We are finding a lot of support from fathers for what we are doing! We agree that young girls are very important too. We are developing a program to help girls and women start their own clubs… check back with us soon and hopefully it will be rolling. Thank you for spreading the word!
What a wonderful article. As a mother of two girls who are involved in both road and mountain bike racing, it’s exciting to see others trying to build support for women’s cycling. There is so much more offered for the young men. I haven’t been able to explain WHY the difference to my daughters, they don’t understand. My oldest daughter, 14, is now riding for JETCycling on their JETCycling Women’s Junior Elite Team. This team is trying to bridge the gap between juniors and the PRO’s. Watch for them and support these girls wherever you can! Given the opportunity they will prove they have what it takes to excel in the cycling world.
We’ve been talking with Jet and will be glad to feature some articles on the girls! coming soon!
Awesome article! So many great points and love the data showing the positive impact of more women in the sport. Thanks for writing it. I will repost on our Trek Women Facebook, and hopefully it will inspire more women to ride, and also encourage current cyclists (men and women) to invite more women to ride!
This is such a great article because it convincingly argues the global importance of women in cycling.
I would also like to share a couple of personal thoughts…
Ever since I got into cycling at the age of eleven, I’ve wanted a life partner that I could share it with. Seventeen years later, I found her, and cycling has helped hold our relationship together when the going has gotten rough.
Over those 17 years I’ve learned the hard way how, and how not to introduce women to cycling and grow their interest and participation in the sport. I would love to see a book or a series of articles aimed at male cyclists showing them how they can be more effective ambassadors for the sport to their girlfriends, wives, daughters, nieces, and even platonic female friends.
Great point Mike. We certainly know what doesn’t work. Maybe a series on this topic would be good. As cyclists sometimes I think we get so wrapped up in the details that we forget the best way to get someone to ride is to just put them on a bike and go!
Great point Mike. We certainly know what doesn’t work. Maybe a series on this topic would be good. As cyclists sometimes I think we get so wrapped up in the details that we forget the best way to get someone to ride is to just put them on a bike and go!
As a member of the Team Estrogen forum, a couple of women’s bike clubs I’ve always know that women cyclists rock!
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/
Great article! I appreciate the photos featuring women in street clothes riding city bikes. Women’s participation in the sport of cycling is certainly important, and athletic women should not encounter obstacles to participation, but it seems to me that the biggest gains are to be made in urban cycling for transportation.
I’m a non-athletic woman in my mid-50s. Skirt-friendly upright bikes with baskets, fenders and lights were a revelation to me when I decided to take up bike-riding a couple of years ago. Now, car-free and carefree, I ride everywhere, every day. It would be hard to overstate the positive impact it’s had on my life, my health, and my self-concept.
(And yes, I do live in Portland. I don’t think I could have made the change in any less accommodating an urban environment. It’s fantastic. And even here, I’m a bit of a tourist attraction with my gray hair and street clothes and grocery-laden baskets. And Christmas lights!)
Terrific article! Thanks. In Philadelphia, a non-profit organization called Gearing Up is making a difference in women’s lives. Their mission “is to provide women in transition from drug and alcohol addiction, domestic violence, and/or homelessness with the skills, equipment, and guidance to safely ride a bicycle for exercise, transportation, and personal growth.”
It’s an incredible organization you can support from afar with a donation!
Check them out: http://gearing-up.org/
Riding a bike is our first taste of freedom as a child. As we grow older, sometimes spending time on a bike saddle is a reclaiming of that freedom, a time just for us, a time to be our own true selves, to put on our own oxygen mask prior to helping others. I would love to see more bike handling and skills clinics specifically for women, as I think the more comfortable women feel on the bike, the more we will see women in group rides and racing. I certainly plan on advocating those types of events in my area as much as possible.
Thanks for this well written and thoughtful article. It is inspiring. Keep up the good work!
love this post!
It’s a great sign of the times that an increasing number of women, including female racers, women bike commuters, and mothers with babies and young children http://marilynch.com/blog/mamas-and-babies-at-the-sea-otter-classic.html show up here at the Sea Otter Classic, where once you saw mostly males.
I was there Mari! It was great, hope to see even more this year.
Women are also the big players in today’s advocacy issues:
Mia Birk transformed Portland and now is the President of the country’s (only?) bike/ped planning firm.
Janette Sadik-Khan has transformed a city that was responsible for the creation of the word, “gridlock”
And my personal favorite inspiring woman, Jane Jacobs who stopped the biggest, baddest interstate highway from cutting through what is now one of the most phenomenal neighborhoods in the entire country.
I don’t care what anyone says. I think you’re alright.
Hi!
Thank you SO much for this inspiring article… this is just the thing I needed to start my cycling life… I’ve been looking for a change & to surprise my cycling aficionado boyfriend since he never offers to take me with him even on social rides… but I feel armed with knowledge, that no matter what – I can do this! I too can ride!
Yes, Dalilah, you CAN ride! Please follow us on facebook and post any questions you have. We promise to help as much as we can! Have fun with your new passion.
https://www.facebook.com/girlbikelove