Women and cycling: why the Fancy Women’s Ride matters

Cecily Michaels | Executive Director

When women began riding bicycles in the late nineteenth century, the response was not curiosity or celebration. It was alarm. 

Women cyclists were portrayed as a threat to the social order. Doctors and commentators warned that cycling would damage women’s bodies, drain their energy and undermine femininity. As women persisted, the panic shifted to ridicule. Women were depicted as incompetent, reckless or physically incapable on a bicycle. The message was consistent: women could not be trusted with machines, movement or independence. 

What sat beneath all of this was a deeper discomfort with women being mobile, autonomous and visible in public space. 

That discomfort has not disappeared. It has simply changed its language. 

Today, women’s decisions about whether to cycle are still shaped by fear and constraint. Poor cycling infrastructure, the risk of harassment or violence, and unequal access to leisure time all influence whether women feel safe or able to ride. When women do ride confidently and visibly, the backlash can be swift. 

Photo credit Karleen Minney via Canberra Time

Many of us saw this clearly in the abuse directed at Marisa Paterson MLA after she shared a photo of herself cycling to work. What should have been entirely unremarkable became the trigger for misogynistic and threatening responses. This was not about cycling etiquette or transport policy. It was about a woman occupying public space with confidence. 

As other women have shared with me, cycling can still provoke hostility from men unsettled by women who demonstrate independence, leadership and physical presence, and who respond by attempting to intimidate or diminish them. The same fear that once framed women cyclists as dangerous or ridiculous continues to surface, now expressed through online abuse and public harassment. 

Pedal Power is challenging both the myths of the past and the realities women face today by hosting the Fancy Women’s Ride. We are working towards a Canberra where cycling is safe, ordinary and accessible, and where women feel confident riding and being visible in public spaces. The Fancy Women’s Ride is a free, fun and festive event that affirms women’s right to be safe, visible and confident on our streets. 

This is why the Fancy Women’s Ride, being held on International Women’s Day, matters. It is women riding together, at their own pace, through our city. Colourful, visible, unapologetic and proud. It is a reminder that women belong in public spaces and always have. 

The ride is free and open to everyone, including those who want to ride in solidarity with women.