If you cycle on the road, it’s easy to bemoan the conditions for bicycles. However, next time your teeth rattle as your wheels sink into a pothole, your heart jumps as car overtakes with inches to spare or you return to your bike only to find its seat has been pinched, consider perhaps the plight of women in North Korea, all of whom have been banned from cycling.
The late Kim Jong Il made it illegal for women to ride bicycles after the daughter of one of his generals was killed riding a bike in Pyongyang. The current leader, Kim Jung Un, had the sense to recind the law last year but appears to have reinstated it this month according to North Korean newspaper, Daily NK, Not only have women been stopped from riding their own bicycles, they are now prevented them from travelling as passengers.
The nonsensical ban is all the more onerous because bicycles in North Korea are vital for the majority of people who do not own cars or motorcycles.
Bicycle bans and Britain
120 years ago bicycles were much more expensive to buy than they are now, but it was social stigma and expectation that women wear clothing that was completely ill suited to cycling that prevented women from taking to two wheels.
The women’s rights advocate Susan B. Anthony may have said that the bicycle did “more to emancipate women than anything else in the world”, but the road along which it travelled was a bumpy one.
On 21st June 1895, the Newark Sunday Advocate ran the following article, which reflects as much the stifling atmosphere of the cycling club as it does the social stigma directed at women who chose to wear the rational clothing that would allow them to use a bicycle in comfort:
The Unique Cycling club of Chicago is all that its name implies. One of its laws is that on all runs bloomers and knickerbockers shall be worn, and two members who disobeyed this rule recently met with a punishment that they will not forget soon. Union park was the rendezvous for the last run, and 50 members turned out. The president, Miss Bunker, observed two women wearing short skirts over their bloomers.
“Take the skirts off,” ordered Captain Bunker.
“Indeed we won’t,” was the reply.
A crowd of 200 had collected to see the start. The president and the captain held a consultation, and then, taking several strong armed members with them, fell on the skirt wearers and stripped them down to their bloomers.
“It was done in all seriousness,” said Mrs. Langdon. “The club’s rules are made to be kept and not to be broken. Why did we take off the skirts in public? For no other reason but to make examples of the offenders. They publicly defied our rules and were published accordingly.”
Rules for women cyclists in 1895
| 44 DON’TS FOR WOMEN RIDERS | New York World 1895 |
|---|---|
| Don’t be a fright | Don’t faint on the road |
| Don’t wear a man’s cap | Don’t wear tight garters |
| Don’t forget your tool bag | Don’t attempt a “century” |
| Don’t coast. It is dangerous | Don’t boast of your long rides |
| Don’t criticize people’s “legs.” | Don’t wear loud hued leggings |
| Don’t cultivate a “bicycle face” | Don’t refuse assistance up a hill |
| Don’t wear clothes that don’t fit | Don’t neglect a “light’s out” cry |
| Don’t wear jewellery while on a tour | Don’t race. Leave that to the scorchers |
| Don’t wear laced boots. They are tiresome | Don’t imagine everybody is looking at you |
| Don’t go to church in your bicycle costume | Don’t wear a garden party hat with bloomers |
| Don’t contest the right of way with cable cars | Don’t chew gum. Exercise your jaws in private |
| Don’t wear white kid gloves. Silk is the thing | Don’t ask, “What do you think of my bloomers?” |
| Don’t use bicycle slang. Leave that to the boys | Don’t go out after dark without a male escort |
| Don’t ride out without a needle, thread and thimble | Don’t try to have every article of your attire “match” |
| Don’t let your golden hair be hanging down your back | Don’t allow dear little Fido to accompany you |
| Don’t scratch a match on the seat of your bloomers | Don’t discuss bloomers with every man you know |
| Don’t appear in public until you have learned to ride well | Don’t overdo things |
| Let cycling be a recreation, not a labor | Don’t ignore the laws of the road because you are a woman |
| Don’t try to ride in your brother’s clothes “to see how it feels” | Don’t scream if you meet a cow. If she sees you first, she will run |
| Don’t cultivate everything that is up to date because you ride a wheel | Don’t emulate your brother’s attitude if he rides parallel with the ground |
| Don’t undertake a long ride if you are not confident of performing it easily | Don’t appear to be up on “records” and “record smashing.” That is sporty. |
‘Rational dress’ for cyclists
When Annie Londonderry embarked on a circumnavigation of the globe in 1896 (to settle a bet that a woman could not cycle around the world), she soon discarded the corset and heavy skirts considered acceptable sportswear at the time in favour the more liberating athletic bloomers pictured right.
The rational dress society statement of purpose reads in part: The Rational Dress society protests against the introduction of any fashion in dress that either deforms the figure, impedes the movement of the body, or in any way tends to injure the health. It protests against the wearing of tightly-fitted corsets, of high-heeled or narrow toed boots and shoes; of heavily-weighted skirts, as rendering healthy exercise almost impossible.
Cycle insurance for ladies (and gentlemen)
Every cycle insurance policy from the ETA includes new-for-old replacement if your bike is stolen, cover for accidental damage (race events included), third party insurance (in the case of an accident you may need to seek compensation or even deal with a claim by someone else), personal accident cover and if you breakdown, we will even come out and recover you and your bike. From 40p per week.
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