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.