As you know, it can sometimes be a little tough or discouraging being a woman in the cycling world. Recently I went kind of crazy-go-nuts in an All Hail The Black Market facebook comment thread regarding this matter. You should go read the whole thread to get a feel for how frustrating it can be to be a girl in a male-dominated sport.
How often do you hear from guys that they wish there were more women cyclists? All the damn time! As a woman I definitely wish I had more same-sex partners to ride with. While it’s nice to sign a piece of paper to post on the internet, it’s even more important to actually take action.
Here are some ways I’ve thought up for YOU to help bring more women into the cycling world!
Basically, all these points boil down to treat women like normal people instead of marginalizing them, and be welcoming and inviting. I do not claim to know everything. I am a woman, but I am very different from other women, so not everything written below will apply to all women. These suggestions are, however, based on my real world experiences, and are just a few ideas I’ve thought of that can maybe jump start some ideas of your own.
If you are a normal dude:
- Invite a woman to go ride bicycles with you. It’s that easy! Go read the tips I wrote about how to get your wife stoked on bikes and apply these to when you are riding with any women. Do not charge out the door trying to impress her with how well you climb hills. Hang out with her, ride at her pace, and say encouraging things to her if she is not confident with herself.
- Don’t assume that all the women you ride with will be slower or weaker than you. There are a hundreds of women out there who are stronger than you are, and being condescending about having to wait for the girl before a ride even starts super sucks. Even when the girl is faster or more skilled than you and shows you up later, constantly having to hear negative things brings emotional levels down, so quit it.
- If you are in a recreational group ride, talk to any women who are out riding with you. Make sure they don’t get dropped if it’s a no-drop ride (yes, this happens). Make the women feel welcomed and not like they are a burden.
- I, for one, truly appreciate being treated like just another guy when I show up to group rides. Instead of pointing out that the girls are girls, just treat them like normal people. It’s amazing how far this will go.
- Quit saying “for a girl”. Woah, that was a totally rad jump, for a girl! You really kicked ass in that alley cat, for a girl! Just say the first part. Then it’s a real compliment instead of a compliment that is brought down with negativity regarding being female.
- If you take a girl to a bike shop for her to buy/try things for herself, let her do the talking. It is SO common for me to see the male walk into the shop and talk to the employees about what the girl he is with wants. Let the girl say what she wants. If you’re at a shop worth a damn, they’re not going to lead her astray and she’ll leave feeling empowered instead of like she just had to go along with what you said.
- Volunteer at events that are specifically for women, or where women are equally as welcomed as the men are. If you see there aren’t any women-specific events in your area, make one! Anyone can organize a no-drop, female-friendly group ride. Just drop the machismo and be welcoming and friendly.
- Write letters/emails to the appropriate agencies saying you’d like to see equal coverage of women’s cycling events and/or equal pay in women’s fields.
If you are a normal girl:
Of course you can do some of the things mentioned above regardless of your gender. If you are a woman, these also apply to you:
- Get out and ride! The more women on the streets, the more welcoming it is for women who are thinking about starting to ride. If a woman in a mini-van is looking for a new way to get around, or a new hobby, or whatever, she is much more likely to go actually buy a bike if she sees other women out on the road that she can relate to. If a woman in a car sees you commuting to work every day because you are on the same schedule, she may think “She can do it, so can I!”
- Go hang out in the bike shops. Then when that woman comes in to buy a bicycle, she can feel like she’s not the odd one out. Let’s face it, most bike shops don’t have female employees and it can be alienating to walk in and feel different from everyone else.
- Join a women’s club and go to the rides. If the women’s groups in your area don’t have anyone showing up to the rides, they’ll stop having them, and it’ll be harder for new women to find people to ride with. If there are only a few people coming to regular rides, it can be hard to plan out larger events that can draw in new people. If there is not a women’s club in your area that you can relate to, start your own!
- Invite another girl to go ride with you! Nothing is more confidence building than finding someone who is actually at your skill level to ride with. And let’s face it, riding with another girl is different from riding with the guys. I love seeing my girlfriends’ cycling abilities grow.
- Share your knowledge and experiences. Write an article for a magazine. Teach a fix-a-flat or repairs class or mountain bike skills clinic. Anyone can do this! If you have been riding for a while, you’ve got knowledge that others don’t have. Even to have a laid back women’s night at a bike shop where women can come together and just hang out with a glass of wine would be great! Many bike shops want to appeal to more women, so having a welcoming space where other women can gather and feel not-judged would be awesome for that. It would be nice if you could include everyone associated with the gender identity. If you think being a normal woman into bikes is hard, imagine being a trans woman. It is nice for everyone to feel welcome.
- Post up on forums if that’s your thing, or make a tumblr or blog or take inspiring pictures. A lot of cycling related places on the internet feel very male dominated (imagine that!). If the internet is your thing, make your voice heard so other women can see they’re not alone when they are just lurking and learning.
If you work at a bike shop:
- Stock bikes small enough for women. I am shopping for a new bike right now. What is the advice that everyone gives for people shopping for a new bicycle? Go try out a bunch of different bicycles until you find one that feels right to you. This is great advice if you ride a 56 cm bike like most people. Unfortunately, none of the bike shops in my area stock bicycles above entry level for small people. I understand that it’s hard to sell them, but you can’t sell a bike that you don’t have at all. It’s not fair to have to commit to purchase a special-order bike that I don’t get to ride at all before I’m committed to buying it just because I am an average sized female. I’ve done it twice, and I am not super in love with either of those bicycles.
- Stock accessories for women, in differing styles. Turns out, no two women have the same exact style. Unfortunately it seems like all the bike execs up top got together and had a conference at which it was decided that everything made for women should have pink or purple accents, and that women love swirls and flowers and butterflies on all of their clothing and accessories. What gives? Please stock a variety of things that will suit different people. I get that some women like that shit, obviously, or they wouldn’t still be making, right? But I feel like the everyday woman is looking for things more subtle.
- Be respectful. Don’t call me cupcake or sweetie or honey or baby. I am not your baby. I don’t appreciate pet names from people I don’t know.
- Don’t assume that women don’t know anything. When a new girl walks into your shop, you have no idea what information is contained in her head. If she is not brand new buying her first bike, she undoubtedly knows more about some bicycle-related something than you do.
- Have events at your shop for women. Lead group rides for women only or where women are welcomed. Have classes or gatherings like I mentioned previously.
- Hire a woman! But don’t hire a woman just because she is a woman. Hire her because she is knowledgeable and will be helpful to your female and male customers. There are very capable female wrenches out there and there are even more women with a background in sales who can maximize your profit while helping you put your female customers on bicycles that are right for them with accessories (that you stock, remember) that are right for them.
If you are anyone one else related to the bike industry:
- Think about the things you say or post online before you say them. Will what you are saying be alienating to women? Or empowering? If a woman sees what you have posted, will it make them want to ride a bicycle (or at least be neutral), or will it push them away? Elly Blue from Taking the Lane wrote the “Bike Test” which I love, which will help you determine if an image you are posting is sexist.
- If you make a product that has male and female specific versions, please make the female versions as important as the male versions. If you promote a clothing collection and then when it launches, there are no items for women, but they say it’s okay because a women’s line is launching later, that says to me that women don’t matter as much. They aren’t important enough to be included in the first launch.
- If you are an event organizer, make incentives for women to come to your events. Equal race payout is big. There are a lot of discussions about this online so I won’t touch on it here, but if you want more girls out, give us some incentive.
- If you are active in advocacy, push for more infrastructure. It’s been shown that women ride more when they feel safe, and bike lanes, and moreso car-free bike boulevards help accomplish this.
Just, overall, be nice to the girls, everyone. We really just want to be treated with respect and dignity and like actual humans. It kind of pains me to write that, because it means that there have been enough degrading experiences for me that it’s just kind of become the norm. Together, we can change this!
Preach it! I’m on the hunt for some neutral cycling clothing, not easy to find.
Story of my life! It’s like every time I find something I kind of like, it’s only available with purple contrast stitching or something.
No doubt. I do not want Hawaiian flowers or lady tribal print. If I ever find something in all black with a longer waist length and a proper cut/fit, I’m buying all of it.
Exactly! I’ll have to do a round up of women’s clothing that doesn’t suck here soon I guess. It’s out there, just limited and hard to find.
I’d be happy just to find jerseys that fit. Men’s jerseys go up to 5XL in some makes. The very same manufacturers that do the 5XL mens just go up to a very small XL in women’s. And if they do offer something larger, it’s labelled “Athena”, which implies that being a large tall woman is something freakish and weird, whereas being a large tall man is perfectly normal.
I am a bit chesty it’s incredibly hard to find my sizes that fit, I’m not too large waisted but only a couple brands fit and men’s are way too long. Agreed about the flowers and color choices I am thinking about having some made just to fit there is a website of design your own in china you can just purchase one you don’t have to buy a lot for around 50.00 a piece.
[...] you want to get more women on bikes, try treating them like normal people; my thought exactly. The Cascade Bicycle Club talks with Ed Orcutt, the Washington Representative [...]
This is really well written, Jessica. Thank you. I manage a bicycle shop in CT and you’re dead on with a lot of what you wrote. I can tell you from personal experience that a lot of our women customers have told us that they chose to purchase a bike from our shop(s) because we weren’t condescending, we were nice, and treated them like a person. So we must be doing something right there. We try to stock lots of different sized bicycles because people come in a ton of differing sizes and shapes, so it sucks to hear that you (and a lot of other women) are having such a difficult time finding something to test ride.
One thing that we have a particularly difficult time with is stocking women’s clothing that has good sell-thru. As you mentioned, women (just like dudes), all have different tastes. But when the manufacturers only make a limited color palette available for their women’s lines, it makes it hard to stock good stuff. The worst I’ve seen in the past years have been from one of the biggest brands (I won’t mention any names), but they put a pink high-heeled shoe in the middle of one of their jerseys. Even the dudes in our shop couldn’t believe it. I definitely think that the clothing brands out there need to re-evaluate their designs (and their designers). If they made stuff that women would want to wear, we’d probably have an easier time selling it?
I personally love the comment about letting your girl doing the talking when you go to the bike shop with her. I always make eye contact and speak directly with the person who the bike is for and it totally gets on my nerves when the dude talks for/over her. More guys need to hear/understand that. For any other shop-dudes/girls, a good technique is to send her man/man-friend out for a test-ride so you can talk with her uninterrupted.
Another idea for getting a better representation of women’s clothing in your local shop: if there’s a shop you have a good relationship with, maybe ask them to look at the manufacturers catalog and pick out colors or styles you’d like to see them stock. We asked a few of our good women customers to help us with what we should bring into the shop. If they’re a good shop, hopefully they will take notice. The buy cycles happen long before the season hits, so we’re ordering our preseason spring/summer stuff for 2014 now. Everything happens early. Another good thing to keep in mind.
Hopefully some of this stuff helps someone. Please keep good posts like this coming. I love to discuss bicycle industry stuff and I think there’s a lot of room for the industry to improve with regards to the women’s market.
http://www.myalibiclothing.com/category/abbies-spin/
I also have a painting called “for a Girl” that I thought you might like :)
http://abigaildurkee.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/dsc_0005.jpg
Awesome!
[...] But, it gives me a nice segue into the blog where I found that article – Glitter Gravel on How to get more women into cycling – which fits in because it’s all about selling the sport of cycling to women. It has [...]
To really broaden base of cycling for women, is to make cycling a lifestyle choice. For transportation, fitness and travel. Lycra women cycling does intimidate some wannabes. (I wear plain lycra.) Sometimes it feels a bit lonely to be one of the rare women cycling to work in the organization. But if people realize you don’t make a big show of it, easily slip and out of cycling wear, someone will also try cycling to work.
This!
Lycra is a blight on biking. You don’t have to wear ‘special’ clothes to ride a bike. My wife and I commute daily, year round, in normal clothes (and rain gear, of course). Looking like normal people who ride bikes is a positive message that riding bikes is for everyone, not just ‘cyclists’. It’s totally okay to do it your way, and you’re more likely to stick with it if you can just throw your leg over your bike and go. Ditto the shoes.
Great post, too.
This was a great read and I forwarded it on to my husband who works in the industry. The company he works for is launching an amazing clothing line… I told him “I don’t care. Tell be about it after you’ve launched the women’s line”. I’m a curvy girl and if that women’s line launches and they have nothing to offer me I will not be so forgiving. Not all women who ride are built the same.
[...] viewpoint of how to get more women to ride. How To Get More Women Into Cycling It isn’t “put more pink on it”, is it? Nope, “more pink” does not [...]
Jessica, thank you for this. I have been in this industry for a few years now and this subject has rubbed me the wrong way oh so many times. I think I know where I need to finally use my fashion degree 10 years later after graduating college.
There’s definitely a growing market! Do it!
http://bikeyface.com/2013/03/06/women-mean-business/
This was a great post! The only thing I’d caution about is the women’s clothing issue . . .I agree that not enough shops stock a good variety. And I get that not everyone wants the “girly” stuff. But I confess that I’m a “girly girl”, and I also think part of getting more women on bikes is showing that you can wear the girly stuff (if you like it) and still be a strong rider. I was out yesterday for a ride with what I affectionately call the “bike shop boys”–8 or 9 guys mostly in their gray and black Rapha gear–and me on my custom green road bike with pink and white flowers, wearing my cycling skort and bright pink jersey. (And by the way, I get just as many or more compliments on the bike from guys!) So if the pink and purple flowers aren’t your thing, definitely ask for what you do want–but “don’t be condescending” applies here, too–we won’t get more women into cycling if we look down our noses at them because they’re in the girly clothes or on a girly bike.
Thanks for your comment! I definitely agree! I love girly stuff too sometimes. I almost always have my nails painted and I have one of these Sheila Moon dresses that I love – http://store.sheilamoon.com/product_info.php?cPath=90_91_95&products_id=1004 Still have a triangle shaped tan on my back from last year wearing it on a long ride wherein I got super sunburned. Haha. I also used to have a handmade pink sparkly bicycle. It was fast as hell.
I guess the point I was trying to make is that it’s often too easy to find the flowery things and more often harder to find understated everyday type clothes that are represented in many of the men’s lines coming out. There are already a lot of products around for the girly girls, but not as many for the tom boys. I feel like it would be a little more encouraging for the not-so-girly girls out there if they had an abundance of options too.
Yes, definitely need options for all! Would love to see a photo of the pink sparkly bicycle! :-)
Rad post, Jessica. Many great points, and excellent coverage across all kinds of riding, not just roadies.
We’re working on getting our women’s jersey out there now. It’s a process – we initially tried to simply reshape the men’s garment, which came out looking great, but it wasn’t amazing. We want there to be total parity between the two lines as we do them, and we felt like in order to really do the women’s line justice, the jersey had to be a totally new garment with the same visual language as our men’s jersey.
To address your point about releasing men’s and women’s lines at once. That’s achievable by a large company quite easily, however, small manufacturers cannot bankroll nearly as many styles per season. We had to prove that we could achieve our goals: excellence across materials, fit, and construction, made in the USA, and have sustainable pricing model; and then iterate into women’s pieces.
Stylewise – the ladies are going to get what the guys get from us. Same neutral colors, same materials, and same quality construction.
Fit is always going to be contentious, unfortunately. Someone will always get left out, and that’s more to do with the economics of making production garments than a desire to alienate anyone. We’re doing our best through multiple iterations and a lot of fit testing to nail a block that will fit as many women as possible.
A lot of our team at Cedar are women, and we’re involving a lot of other ladies in this process to make sure we do this right.
Thanks for the detailed comment Jeremy! Y’all know I’ve been lookin forward to that women’s jersey for quite some time, all the time hollerin on Instagram. I know y’all are a new company and it makes sense to test the initial waters with a market you know you’ll have first (namely, dudes). I’m sure the ladies who work for/with you are giving you good feedback for what’s coming up next. HMU when that kickstarter launches! <3 <3
For the last few years we purchased a ton of women’s clothing. Guess what was left over at the end of the year? …..a ton of cute women’s tops. No one is intentionally not items for women. We would love to sell more if the demand was actually there. No one is trying to intentionally diss women. Not for lack of marketing, the stuff doesn’t sell.
So true, I am a woman working in a bike shop in the UK and women just wont spend the money on cycling clothing like the guys, there are very few that ride through the winter as its to cold, so stocking womens winter clothing is an even worse nightmare! We are having a ladies night next month to try and drum up more confidence and enthusiasm for riding bikes, it even includes wine and chocolate so we will surely get a few takers!
This is a great post! You’ve got a lot of good ideas here. I just want to point out one thing (and I’m a woman myself, in spite of having a guy’s name)….. women do send some mixed signals by saying “treat me like a normal person,” but then often going out of their way to make a big deal that they’re women. Like naming their club the “Menstrual Cycles Gang,” for example. I mean no disrespect to that group at all, but if that’s what you name your riding group, you can’t be too surprised when men then “treat you like a girl.” Guys aren’t exactly out there naming their riding clubs “The Testosterone Gang” or the “Prostate Pedalers”… if you see what I mean. :)
TeamEstrogen.com is the only retailer (online only) that is able to capture a significant amount of women’s cycling apparel market, better than any bike shop or other online retailers for that matter! They offer everything for the racer to weekender to commuter in sizes xxs to women’s 5xl and the prints/styles range from flowers to solids. Their return policy is excellent and prices are reasonable with great sales throughout the year. I have been in the industry for 20+ years and TeamEstrogen.com is an amazing online retailer for women’s cycling apparel, they get it! I know I’m a former employee.
The apparel is out there but unfortunately shops don’t make that investment or “dudes” are doing the ordering and miss the target. Sizing is always an issue because larger women cannot find their sizes and if shops did carry the sizes it can be intimidating for larger women in shops where the service is condescending and ignorant. My thought is that yes clothing makes women feel confident and I have witnessed women get out on a bike because their kit was cute or flattering and their shorts were comfortable.
I could go on but bottom line is that the cycling clothing available to women is hard to find because most shops don’t know what they are doing in regard to women’s apparel by understanding their women’s market. Needless to say it has always been difficult to find a large selection of women’s cycling apparel until now and TeamEstrogen.com has really got it all!
Keep rollin’ ladies!
Michelle
Very good post. I like your straightforward suggestions that can be boiled down to kindness, respect and an open mind. As a woman working in the mountain bike industry, I’d like to share a few thoughts that I’ve been ruminating on.
1. Not every woman working in the bike industry is the same, and we don’t all have the same goals or tastes or riding styles. Some are moms and are focused on safe places for kids to ride. Others are pro-level freeriders and are focused on advancing the sport to the next level. Both are equally valuable and important. We should not allow ourselves to be pigeonholed by our gender, and realize that numbers alone won’t solve any problems.
2. I somewhat hate to admit this, but some of us aren’t exactly gunning to get many more women in the industry. An intelligent, savvy, well-spoken and confident woman has a significant advantage, if well-played, in a bro-dominated world. When we can hold court thoughtfully and artfully among men, it’s a very powerful position. And because there are so few of us, when we run into other women at industry events, there’s an instant bonding that occurs that is also very powerful.
3. Dudes designing bike clothing for women isn’t necessarily the cause of the fit and design issues people have. When was the last time you successfully got a room full of women to agree on something? I think a lot of those pink, flowery designs and ultra-short Spandex shorts ARE put forth by women, because they either like that themselves or they think it will sell. Just in my organization, the women are very divided on fit, style, color and design. Some have boyish figures with lengthy torsos that regular women’s jerseys just don’t cover, so they ride in long tech tees, instead. Others are curvy and/or busty, which creates a completely unique fit requirement. As for design, that’s all over the map, too. I myself like bold, primary colors and angular, geometric designs. Some of my coworkers like more pastel, Easter-y colors and swirly designs that I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing.
4. Many bike industry companies and organizations are located in places where there is a strong cycling culture, so we are used to seeing people and women on bikes all the time, everywhere. It’s also completely natural to us. That’s why we work in the industry — cycling isn’t just an occasional “girls’ day out” thing; riding bikes is LIFE. It’s our passion. It’s a salve to our sanity. Therefore, we may not always be aware of, or thinking about, the need to introduce more women to cycling, especially in a gentle way. Maybe that’s ignorance, but I just mean it isn’t ever-present in front of our eyes. Heck, I’m the worst mountain biker I know where I live. I can’t introduce anyone to riding, because every woman I know already kicks my butt on the bike!
5. I read this somewhere, so I can’t take credit for this as an original idea, but women need to do their homework. It’s remarkable how much research a woman will do before they buy a baby stroller, car, computer, organic food, whatever, but that they will walk into a bike shop completely ignorant and unaware. If you want to get into riding, take some responsibility and do a little research. Prepare yourself so that you have the most productive conversations possible in a bike shop. Showing even just an inkling of knowledge usually motivates the average bike shop worker. It shows you care and are curious. Remember, bike shop workers are really passionate. If you have a tiny bit of knowledge that you can use to get them going about bikes (rather than just making a sale), you should be in good shape to continue learning and get what is right for you.
My biggest piece of advice is to offer skills clinics. If you run a shop, a bike club, whatever, get certified to teach MTB/road skills and offer beginner courses for men and women alike in the most fun, welcoming atmosphere possible. We need to show everyone that you CAN ride a bike safely and confidently—even starting from scratch—if you have a base skill set on which to build. It’s just like skiing. Who goes and hits the big slopes without any exposure or a few lessons on the bunny hill, first? Riding is the same. A foundation is critical to hooking and keeping riders.
- Katherine
Brilliant. If there’s one thing I’m tired of is people trying to read minds and guess why women aren’t riding, why we’re so different. There are differences, of course, but treat us as a normal human being not some confusing alien, and then maybe cycling won’t seem so off-putting.
What a great post and wonderful comments!
I just attended the National Bike Summit and Women’s Bike Forum. In a session on the bike industry and women, the Sweetpea Bicycles founder got a huge laugh and applause when she said that if a male accompanies a woman and starts answering for her in the questions she asks to create a custom-designed bike, there’s a “boyfriend up-charge”.
A male bike-shop owner in another session said that in his experience it took 3-5 years of stocking and marketing women’s products before a shop established a reputation as welcoming to women. If you don’t sell out the first season it’s a long way to year five, and I get that, but it does suggest that some patience and commitment are required.
The more we can do to find and thank shops that make even small steps forward, the better it will be for everyone. (A shop that is “woman-friendly” is also likely “beginner-friendly”, just to generalize a bit, and both are growth markets.
Looking around the advocacy events and major meetings I’ve been at since I started as executive director at the Bicycle Alliance of Washington last August, I see LOTS of women leaders in organizations at all levels from local to national. This is good news for the growth of women doing every kind of riding.
Your blog is on the list of women’s bike blogs I created and have been building for the past two years (womenbikeblogs.com and the Twitter account @womenbikeblogs with an RSS feed from lots of the blogs, both growing all the time). There are literally hundreds of these blogs and the encouragement, advice, and support are there in so many communities on so many types of riding, from daily commuting to competitive riding of all types to bike touring.
The blogs are a great community connector and enabler I got to feature in the panel on social media I was on at the Bike Summit. If anyone reading this far in the comments knows of other blogs not on the list, let me know at womenbikeblogs-at-gmail.com or via Twitter. Blogs should be written by a woman or have women on the team if they’re multi-author.
[...] take on this concept from another female cyclist that morning while I was staying warm in my tent ( http://glittergravel.com/how-to-get-more-women-into-cycling/). Low and behold just ahead of us I spotted a solo female [...]
Hi Jessica,
My name is Lucy and I work for a bikeshop called Biketart in the UK. I am in the middle of setting up a strong subsection for women called – ‘biketart for girls’.
I’d just like to say thanks for writing that, a lot of it I knew already but it’s always good to see it reiterated by a female cyclist and to find out some extra!
I hope I don’t let you down!