There was a time, long ago, when women were actively discouraged or actually forbidden from competing on bikes. In the 1930's my (late) clubmate Ethel Brambleby found herself banned from Border CA time trials as soon as she showed any promise - it's hard to believe that the committee dinosaurs responsible weren't worried that she would beat them!
Ethel, and many others, fought the good fight against this nonsense and eventually won. As far as I know the only all male club (I'm not sure if it can be called a cycling club) still existing is the Pickwick - and even they have the excuse that members have to adopt the name of a Pickwick character.
In spite of the success of the pro-women campaign there are still far fewer women than men in the world of cycling enthusiasts. I think this is just in the nature of things and that while I believe we should do what we can to encourage women, I don't think we should beat ourselves up because the numbers are still unequal.
There was a time, long ago, when women were actively discouraged or actually forbidden from competing on bikes. In the 1930's my (late) clubmate Ethel Brambleby found herself banned from Border CA time trials as soon as she showed any promise - it's hard to believe that the committee dinosaurs responsible weren't worried that she would beat them!
Ethel, and many others, fought the good fight against this nonsense and eventually won. As far as I know the only all male club (I'm not sure if it can be called a cycling club) still existing is the Pickwick - and even they have the excuse that members have to adopt the name of a Pickwick character.
In spite of the success of the pro-women campaign there are still far fewer women than men in the world of cycling enthusiasts. I think this is just in the nature of things and that while I believe we should do what we can to encourage women, I don't think we should beat ourselves up because the numbers are still unequal.