slagjumper

Well, I knew that the bicycle liberated early 20th century American women, looks like it is doing the same in Africa today. It would be great if the bicycle was once again, this important in the US. I guess that a really good woman would get a very nice bike for bride price.


https://allafrica.com/stories/200603270484.html

Rwanda: Bugesera District: Where Women Also Ride Bicycles

The New Times (Kigali)

March 26, 2006
Posted to the web March 27, 2006

Raymond Imena
Kigali

"In Bugesera district, every family has to own a bicycle for life to be easier," says Theresa Musabyimana while riding a bicycle, her baby strapped onto her back.

Cycling in Bugesera is no shame for women, as most women claim, because women can take their children for treatment at any time, says a female bicyclist. A family man, John Habiyaremye, confirms this, saying his wife normally rides to the hospital to take their child for treatment.

Some women have gone as far as taking their harvest to the market and fetching water using bicycles, since the scarcity of water in Bugesera necessitates travelling long distances to fetch the golden liquid. It is even alleged that young girls and women carry heavier loads than some men do.

Most couples in Bugesera, when legalising their marriage, ride their bicycles to the wedding site and ride back on one bicycle after becoming husband and wife, an elderly resident said. The elder further recalled Rwandan culture which had forbidden women from riding bicycles to the point where it even looks weird - almost a taboo -- in some parts of the country for women to ride.

But some women were quick to the defence of female bicyclists, saying women's emancipation has encouraged women and girls to do every kind of job to support themselves and their families.

The key obstacle to women riding bicycles is that they are unable to fix the mechanical problems they encounter, leading to Bugesera women to call upon their men to train them on how to fix them.

The landscape being generally flat in the area, bicycle transport is the most convenient mode of transport for taking merchandise to the market. Riding the bicycle in Bugesera starts at an early age for both boys and girls. However, in mountainous areas of the country like in the Northern Province, it is common for men and boys to be unable to ride bicycles. And as some local authorities told Cool Sunday, Bugesera has more bicycles than any other district in Rwanda.

The bicycle is so treasured in Bugesera that even the fate of marriage can be determined by it. One Nzamukosha says that when a girl is married she has to receive a bicycle as part of the wedding gifts to help her in the new life she is about to begin. Laughing, Nzamukosha alleged that some parents have even forced their sons to marry girls they do not want in order for the parents to acquire the bicycles.

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Copyright © 2006 The New Times. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). Click here to contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material.

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-=(8)=-

And some people will say they are 'backwards' ??

closetbiker

Il Postino, Beijing Bicycle, The Bicycle Thief.

These are all movies that show just how important a bicycle can be to people and families that are not as rich as others are in different countries.

Sometimes, some people just take too much for granted.

bikiola

can you point me to some literature on more detail on bicycles liberating women in early 20th cent america? i'm really curious about the topic

bikiola

by the way i should note that the article mentions that women "still need men" as a result of their mechanical inferiority... so its still built in that they aren't liberated.

slagjumper

I figured that they just allowed the men to fix their bikes so as to give them something to do.

Dahon.Steve

HOLY COW!

Imagine being forced to married some chick so that the parents can get access to her bicycle!!

Cycliste

It's actually a phenomenon that began in the late 19th century. Some women went as far as wearing pants while riding a bicycle Most opponents were... other women but overall, the majority of people were quick to associate them with witches or women of little vertue.

You can read an interesting account of this period in "Bicycle: The History" by David V. Herlihy which includes an entire chapter on "Women and the Velocipede".

At first, these women were already wealthy (to afford a bicycle that is) educated and enjoyed a high level of liberation for their time, but throughout the turn and early 20th century, bicycles becoming more affordable were adopted by women of all classes.

It may sound trivial today, but the bicycle allowed many women to travel miles away of their home without being driven by their husbands or domestiques (other men). Even if techncally they could horse ride, these activities were tightly controlled by men and a woman riding a horse on her own was not socially accepted. Bicycles may have puzzled people at first, not knowing where to classify them and enbolded some women to use them. This was also true in most of western Europe, and throughout WWII, then the automobile rapidly replaced the bicycle with the exception of countries like Holland where people still consider it as a viable method of transportation.