Lifestyle

9 Significant Photos in the History of Women’s Cycling

Photo moments that show how the bicycle paved the way for women's emancipation and how it went on to shape women's cycling.

Wheels of change

Female cyclist in rational dress from 1889. Source: http://1890swriters.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/1890s-womens-fashion.html
The Safety Cycle: Photograph: London Stereoscopic Company Getty Images
Cambridge students hang an effigy of a woman riding a bike in protest against university admission. Photograph: Hulton Archive/ Getty Images
Source: http://www.brainpickings.org/2012/01/03/donts-for-women-on-bicycles-1895/
Two suffragettes on bicycles in 1914. Photograph: Corbis
Beryl Burton
Connie Carpenter-Phinney wins the LA Olympics Road Race in 1984. Photo sourced from http://pages.rapha.cc/
Helen Wyman wins the 2013 Koppenbergcross. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images Afp/AFP/Getty Images
Photo: http://www.womenstour.co.uk/

Wheels of change

Women and cycling have an important history – and the relationship between the two has led to the bicycle being seen by many as a symbol of women’s freedom.

A History of the Bicycle and Women’s Rights

On the topic of cycling and women’s rights, the American civil rights leader, Susan B Anthony, wrote in 1896:

“I think [the bicycle] has done more to emancipate women than any one thing in the world.

We’ve selected five vintage photos that we think illustrate important moments of change in women’s freedoms from the Victorian age to visibility in the cycling industry today.