Guest post from Kat of Newcastle (@KatsDekker) 
It is a woman’s territory to keep their loved-ones save: women take household decisions, lead and guide their families with save and caring hands. It is no surprise therefore that the Newcastle Cycling Campaign is led by womenfolks and steered by women’s view of the world. Cycle campaigning is inherently female in its cry for save space, save conditions, save cycle systems.
The campaign wants everyone to be able to enjoy cycling, easily and safely, on attractive and pleasant routes, paths and streets. We want our (hypothetical) eight-year old to be able to cycle to school. All by themselves. Soaking up the independence, freedom and sheer joy that comes with the wind in your hair, gliding along, cycling. Growing up and gaining self-confidence with every pedal stroke.
At the campaign we have this simple and quite ordinary vision – but we also know that not many share it with us. Not yet anyways. “I couldn’t possibly cycle, there’s too many cars” people say before slinking behind the (steering) wheel – not even noticing the irony of their action.
We know we’ve got a long way to go. Though a simple and rather ordinary idea, liveable cities with their people-sized transport systems, allowing free walking and cycling, seamlessly linking to buses, metros and trains, is something people experience only on their holidays – Copenhagen and Amsterdam to name the King & Queen of pro-people places. So close but yet so far. We marvel at their variety: relaxedness, inclusiveness, friendliness and attractiveness.
It is where space is save and seemingly plentiful, space is purposefully designed by people for people with people in mind. That’s our vision for Newcastle. And of course the bicycle is at the very heart of that transformation. Centre piece. The bicycle is the indicator species for liveable places.
In the Netherlands these save towns and cities happened because people asked for them. They asked for them to be created for their children. They stood up and shouted “Stop child murder” – they had understood that ever-wider roads and unfettered car use are diametrically opposed to people-sized neighbourhoods and child-friendly street networks. Society had changed, and the road space and streetscape changed with them.
We now start to see a similar o
utcry for fairly and clearly delineated space in our country. And it comes from none other than the ‘squeezed middle’ – people on bicycles. People who have decided – more often than not by choice – to get around by bike. Pushed in the gutter on the road, and not welcome on the pavement, the sense of solidarity in a marginalised community keeps growing, getting stronger and gathering pace.
And so the UK cycling community is gaining confidence. Demanding their fair share of that space. Safe. Even pleasant. Like Copenhagen. Like Amsterdam. For an eight-year old to be pedalling, happy and healthy, growing up.
Cycling is undoubtedly here to stay. How many new people will cycle is vastly dependent on the amount of space that set aside for cycling. Let’s speak up. Self-assured. With confidence. For our slice of the cake.
And with cycling it’s simple. Once you have your cake, you can eat it too!
8 Comments
As a male cyclist and activist I must say that I totally agree with Kat of Newcastle. It is not sexist to be feminist, and men can (I hope!) be feminist too – which to me means understanding the basis of gender relationships in society, and uncovering the oppression to which women are subjected. And I support female leadership of cycle campaigning – since female traits include caring, cooperation and teamwork – whilst male traits are also needed in there (competition and fixing the bikes perhaps?)
Basically we’ve got to work together to show those car drivers that on city roads, cyclists take priority -
Hiya,
Just want to chip in my two cents as one of the…i guess you’d call us editors. Me and 3 friends set this blog up a good few months ago now, we did it because we share a love of bikes and belief in their importance as a tool social change, taking control of our lives in a consumerist world, giving us physical strength and practical skills but most of all because our experiences as cyclists had been so much defined by the fact that we are women. From the reactions we got from drivers, to the type of bikes we were given to ride, to the treatment from bike shop staff, to the expectations of our abilities – not all of this was negative but it was formative. Thats a very long-winded way of saying that Spokeswomen is a feminist blog but it was created based on a abstracted sense of the importance of creating a space for female cyclists and activists to share ideas and experiences and have debates like this one.
For me this discussion has highlighted that as more people begin to contribute to Spokeswomen and attribute to it their our understanding of feminism and their own views cycling and gender its important that we set out our stall with a little statement our purpose/principles. I think that would be the basis of any editorial policy, having said that I would only like to be an editor of last resort i.e. veto stuff that totally contradicts our principles other than that this can be a space were anyone can share their stories (and and anyone can challenge/comment on them and thus we can all develop our ideas) so long as its clear that bloggers are representing themselves and not Spokeswomen.
I am always excited by hearing about the projects and campaigns of other female bike-nuts weather or not they chime with my own feminist analysis (which I must admit is constantly evolving) because the more links we make, people we speak to the stronger and richer we become.
Apologies that was basically a blog in itself. Keep talking. Ellie
While some editorial work wouldn’t have gone amiss, you should know that English isn’t the author’s first language. Maybe you could try writing a short opinion piece in another language, and see how grammatically correct you can get it.
The UK is afflicted by a national disease that causes its population to think that the car is the only way to get from A to B, no matter how short the distance, or how inconvenient it is to do the journey by car compared to other modes of transport.
The effect is that our roads are often gridlocked and are dangerous places for people to be, creating a viscious circle that discourages people from seeking alternative modes of transport, namely the bicycle. So we need a major cultural shift to make our public spaces safer for everyone, and this starts by encouraging more people to cycle, especially during peak times of travel.
In the UK, male cyclists outnumber female cyclists by 8 to 1. Yet more women cyclists are killed in our cities every year. Undoubtedly, our roads are an aggressive place, and it seems like you need a high level of testosterone in order stay safe while cycling. Given this aggressive road environment, how are we to encourage more people – especially women and children -to cycle?
I very much agree and support what is written in this piece. My wife and I do not have a car and use bikes as our primary form of transport. We don’t have kids, but if we do, I’d like to see to a safe environment for them to grown up in. That’s why are are both involved in campaigning and advocacy for cycling in the north east. If people aren’t vocal about it, then change will never happen.
In reality women do demand a higher degree of safety and take less risks than men. All road stats for both cycling and driving show this pretty clearly. Telling the truth is rarely sexist. One can speculate on why this is, my money is on evolution. Another angle is that once women have children there is significant social pressure against risk taking.
Stay save, nice basket.
Don’t worry about the spelling mistakes, they are all over the web.
The sexist issue might be a little more complicated. But you know, this is a blogpost. I suppose it is meant to get some discussion going. If the group is full of women and safety is a mayor concern Kate wants to share. Well, why not this way? Surely there are also men who care about safety and men who take care of the children. But it helps to make things black/white to get opinions right. And you do not lie when you say that women take household decisions etc. Maybe some people would like the world to be different from that, but it is a fact and research can confirm it.
Dear Riley
typos can be easily corrected I guess.
Actually glad this is generating some debate. Do I think this blog is sexist? No.
We all know that women an men are different, see a lot of things differently and, believe it or not, they also ride different types of bikes. When it comes to campaigning, I do think that we (men and women) are motivated by a wide range of reasons converging towards one main goal: positive change. Creating something better for us, and for others, now and for the future. There’s a bit of truth in women campaigning for the generations to come. And there’s a feminist behind the blog, nothing wrong with that.
Great that women are out there, campaigning for safe cycling and for the bens. While the men are washing their car before going to the pub for a few pints. Ooooooops that would have been sexist!
another feminist, in solidarity
To address the accusation of this post being sexist. This is an opinion piece. It describes how I see, and generalise, and make sense of the world. By no means do I mean to talk about the role delineation of the woman, or by extrapolation the role of men, in our society.
Currently not many women cycle, and we have to ask why. There are differences between men and women.
I really do have to look up the save and safe thing! Thanks for pointing that out. And I am fast using my native language of Germany… will I ever speak/write perfectly in a language… German or English?
In any case, I hope that helps to clarify.
Is there any kind of editorial or selective process for this blog? If so, how did this get past it?
1) Safe and save mean two different things.
2) More importantly, this post is pretty sexist.
The first paragraph spouts all sorts of nonsense about the role of women (“It is a woman’s territory to keep their loved-ones save” [sic]) and the nature of femininity (“Cycle campaigning is inherently female in its cry for save space, save conditions, save cycle systems [sic]).
Not impressed.