How the Bicycle Improved the Lives of Women.

After researching Victorian times and trends in February of 2012, I wrote this post sharing the positive effect of the bicycle in women's lives near the end of the nineteenth century.  Good reviews of Haifaa-Al Mansour's movie Wadjda have come to my attention recently - and therefore created a renewed interest in the role of the bicycle regarding women's history.

Reading the accounts of Susan B. Anthony, Frances Willard, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman - the most profound impression was this:  The bicycle offered a sense of safety.  Victorian women - on wheels - were enabled for the first time to speed past strangers they did not wish to encounter.  Yes, riding a bike did require small changes to attire... a hem slightly shorter to avoid its getting caught in the bicycle chain... or some women opted for divided skirts or voluminous bloomers - but think of the sense of lightness the lifting of one small worry can create.

Now, riding my own bike and enjoying the fresh air and the improved circulation... I find it wonderful to know I share that same sense of lightness experienced by the first bicycling women long ago.  Less worries, better health, more happiness... these are improvements that enhance the lives of the people we love as well.