Getting Women Cycling

Sometimes the planets align and you get a chance to sit down and pull together all your poorly framed sentences on the key ingredients to get women cycling (which, by the way, has been a trending topic on twitter #getwomencycling).

I mention the planetary things aligning as British Cycling have just announced their seven year plan to get one million women cycling, a 200% increase on current participation rates (and probably a 2,000,000% increase on current cycling trends given the weather in England right now).

I know some people have written on this topic, and it is a common one. Everyone seems to have an opinion. Kinda like your first ride with a bunch of blokes. So, as I ‘go okay for a girl’, and also have the benefit of 2.5 years as Board member of Cycling Victoria and Chair of the Women and Girl’s Commission, here are my tips.

1.       Be the change you want to see.

The best examples across Victoria are by people (not necessarily women) keen to see some positive change for women who have gone ahead and got the job done in their local community. You only need to see the award winners from the Cycling Victoria International Women’s Day Breakfast for great examples. They are quietly determined and committed people who have somehow found time in their lives to achieve their vision for change. Their efforts have resulted in more women riding, more women leading, more women racing, and a women’s cycling scene that has become our foundation for future growth in Victoria. They are trail blazers, they are fearless, and they just get out there and get the job done.

When I first started in my position at Cycling Victoria, I caught up with a former Board member and asked what the biggest challenge was for women’s cycling. The response was, ‘the apathy of the women’. It took me some time to work out what this meant, but now I think that it referred to a tendency by some to sit back and complain and expect someone else to fix problems. In my time I have been lucky to not see too much of this, but whenever I think of this comment I become more determined to ensure we maintain a culture of action.

2.       Equal prize pools, recognition and attention.

‘Be the change you want to see’ has been an important philosophy for Cycling Victoria. We decided early on that in order to see women’s racing given more prestige, attention and recognition, we needed to lead the way. All Cycling Victoria events now provide equal prize money, and by setting the example we have seen more and more private promoters and clubs move to equalise the prize pool and promote the women’s racing as a key aspect of their entire event.  This is important as much for the positive benefits as well as removing the negative associations from not providing equal prize money or promoting the women’s racing.

In 2012 two events stood out against a sea of change: the Melbourne to Warrnambool, and the Melbourne Sprint Championships. Both events received negative publicity about their treatment of women and the prize pool. The mainstream media really picks up on the perception that cycling is a sport that only really caters for men, and gives these stories more airtime than any of the positive women's cycling news out there. Luckily these events are now in the minority, and we look forward to seeing changes from both in 2013.

When it comes to equal prestige, recognition and attention, there is a lot that requires careful consideration. How do you prepare your race reports? Do you only give the women a paragraph at the end? Why can’t you lead with the women’s story? Can you provide a separate women’s report? How do you present your race/event images? We know that women are incredibly intimidated by many aspects of cycling, and images of men looking fierce as they race is probably the worst kind of advertising to women you can give your sport. It is similar if you only cover the very elite in women's cycling. It is hard for a new cyclist to relate to someone who lives and breathes cycling full time, so encourage stories that people can relate to in some way.

If you want a great example of developing prestige in women's events, try the Women’s Bendigo Madison. Introduced for the first time in 2013 on the Saturday evening program (the men’s version has run for 42 years on the Sunday night of Labour Day weekend), it allowed for the event to be run without a shadow from the men's event. The event promoter sold the concept to the local community, who came on board and sponsored all teams. Separate media angles from the men helped build up the anticipation in the local community. The result was the biggest Saturday night crowd in the history of the event, and sponsorship for all teams is already sold for the 2014 edition.

3.       Engender your leadership. It matters, and it makes a difference.

Cycling Victoria has also committed to increasing the diversity of all our commissions and Board by focussing recruitment on women (or in the case of the Women and Girl’s Commission, recruiting more men). Engendered decision making is incredibly important for an organisation, it is proven in the business world that organisations are more successful with a diverse leadership group and it helps shift us away from our history of being a men’s sport.

Having a token female on your Board or committee simply does not work. It is difficult to speak up and allow for fair and reasonable debate to occur. There is some great research out there (and no link avail) that shows you need to have at least 1/3 of your committee represented by either gender. Of course the preference is for 50/50, but the evidence suggests that 1/3 will achieve more engendered debate and will function much better.

4.       It is all about the grass roots.

Sometimes we need to shift the focus on the numbers at the start line, and to stop thinking about racing for a second. Racing numbers are influenced by the participation pyramid. Instead, try thinking about what gets women onto bikes or more importantly, what stops women from getting onto bikes. The research typically hits on three key areas: safety concerns, confidence and intimidation.

When people think of safety, they most frequently go straight to the need for more off-road paths, bike lanes and cycling infrastructure. Yes, this is important. But it is expensive and slow to accommodate all the safety concerns across a State of 5.5 million people. Inserting bike lanes on top of heritage protected cobbled gutters along Chapel Street, even though it was only a couple of blocks, was quoted at around $1million!

Try thinking about what else improves the feeling of safety on a bike: being confident on a bike. And to get there, you need time on the bike and the opportunity to learn and master the bike skills that enable you to ride safely. Time and time again, Governments overlook the importance of education programs to build confidence and improve the feeling of safety in a cyclist. A million bucks can go a long way to empower and improve the feeling of safety for many cyclists.

Grass roots is also about the entry into organised cycling. Why is this important? Because a group of men in lycra, dark sunglasses and fancy bikes can be very intimidating. The sport is more than that, so it is important to constantly break down those barriers that intimidate. Everyone plays a role in this. Smile, talk to new comers. Wave and say g’day when you ride past them. Have a quick chat at the traffic lights.

5.       Women leading women.

The final essential tip here today is to get women in your local community to lead other women on bike rides. In the UK the program is called Breeze, and we have cleverly used the same name here in Victoria (our website is www.breezerides.com.au where you can search for a ride group in your local area). We train women to become ride leaders, give them First Aid and AustCycle teacher qualifications, and help support them in setting up a local women’s ride in their home area. The brilliance of the program is its simplicity and the power. I have heard so many happy stories of how women have found themselves, their freedom and their independence through cycling, facilitated by a local female ride leader.

It's not just about the cycling, it is about the friendships and the community building that goes on as part of the process. The notion of going on a bunch ride is a very supportive one: people will wait for you if you are slow, you chat to someone who you might never chat to down the street, and your ride buddies will inquire as to why you missed last week’s ride.  As time passes, the community building aspect grows organically and becomes very powerful. We see many women’s groups develop to the point where they travel to cycling events together, share babysitting, support each other’s businesses and community events, and for the adventurous, line up together for racing.