{"id":22469,"date":"2023-04-06T05:08:59","date_gmt":"2023-04-06T12:08:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/averagejoecyclist.com\/?p=22469"},"modified":"2023-04-06T13:39:55","modified_gmt":"2023-04-06T20:39:55","slug":"bicycle-became-symbol-womens-emancipation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/averagejoecyclist.com\/bicycle-became-symbol-womens-emancipation\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Bicycle Became a Symbol for Women\u2019s Emancipation"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, women began to escape some of their restrictions by riding bicycles. Despite strong opposition from men, women cycled on, and the bicycle became an instrument of change that subverted the status quo and became a powerful symbol of women’s emancipation. In this post, Andrew McLaughlin tells us all about the extraordinary role played by bicycles in women’s emancipation.<\/p>\n

To quote Susan B. Anthony:<\/p>\n

“The bicycle has done more to emancipate women than any one thing in the world. … I rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a bike. It gives her a feeling of self-reliance and independence the moment she takes her seat; and away she goes, the picture of untrammelled womanhood.”<\/p>\n

As Anthony wrote those words, women in Great Britain and North America saw the bicycle as an instrument of change. <\/strong>And they saw the act of cycling as something of a rallying cry for the whole of the suffragette movement. Affording women unprecedented freedoms in the latter part of the 19th<\/sup> century and into the early 20th<\/sup>, the bicycle, like the broomstick before it, developed a sordid reputation for its association with the unchaste and the seditious. But it was precisely this subversion of the status quo that made the bicycle such a powerful symbol for women\u2019s emancipation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Related Post: Why do Women\u2019s Bike Frames Have a Dropped Crossbar?<\/a><\/h3>\n

An Important Change in Bicycle Technology<\/h2>\n

In about 1885 (the actual year depends on your metric) the \u201cSafety\u201d bicycle made a proud debut. Unlike the Penny Farthings of yester-year, with their enormous pedal-wheel, Safeties had a chain drive, even-sized wheels, a diamond-type frame, and were much more accessible to the layperson.<\/p>\n

Indeed, as The Bearings<\/em> (an American cyclist magazine) put it in 1894, \u201cthe Safety bicycle fills a much-needed want for women in any station of life\/ It knows no class distinction, is within reach of all, and rich and poor alike have the opportunity of enjoying this popular and healthful exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n

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