Susan B. Anthony said it back in 1896: “I’ll tell you what I think about the bicycle. I think it’s done more for the liberation of women than anything else in the world.” This statement, now in the 21st century, seems a bit strange, since we understand the bicycle very differently today than we did at the end of the 19th century. Today, the bicycle is seen as an object of leisure, for sport, or as a 100% ecological means of personal transport, but back then it was a true cultural revolution.
To begin, we must understand the strictness of social norms, when simply walking quickly, speaking loudly, or waving your arms while talking was considered attracting attention and was frowned upon. Imagine, then, a 19th-century woman on a bicycle… Any woman who dared to do so was consciously breaking the established rules. It was a real scandal, and it became even more so when these women began wearing trousers, known as “bloomers.” Many female cyclists of the time were insulted and even attacked. But the bicycle offered them the possibility of moving freely and quickly in a world that condemned them to the confinement of the family home.
Little by little, the bicycle became more popular. Women’s clubs for traveling together emerged, doctors went from believing cycling was harmful to women to recommending it as a healthy activity, and the image of a female cyclist represented “the new woman”: the modern woman who broke with social conventions and initiated a change in women’s role in society by working outside the home, escaping the traditional role assigned to them by society, and being politically active in the women’s suffrage movement.
Despite everything, over time, the cycling world continues to be dominated by men, at least in Spain, where 70% of people who “frequently” ride bikes are men. In the US and England, the figures are similar, but Central Europe is different. In the Netherlands, where 27% of daily journeys are made by bike, 55% of users are women, while in Germany (12% of urban journeys on two wheels) the proportion is very even: 51% men, 49% women. The more cyclable a city is, the more women are pedaling on its streets. And so it seems that the number of women pedaling is a good indicator of how bike-friendly a city is.
In cycling, as in feminism, we’ve come a long way since the days when women were attacked for riding bikes, but we certainly still have a long way to go.
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