What is the link between women’s aversion to Lycra and and all-male boards? Cycling, is the answer I arrived at after taking a “journey of inspiration and opportunity” led by one of our most successful sports bodies.
Let me explain. Or try to. British Cycling, the national governing body for the sport, launched its vision for women’s cycling yesterday with a plan to get one million more women riding bikes by 2020. The launch, at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, included two successful cyclists Jess Varnish and Becky James, and much talk of how women are put off by the aforementioned Lycra and the fact that roads can be dangerous. There were lots of jolly shots of ordinary women cycling in jeans and dresses.
Any event that aims to redress the imbalance in a country where only a tiny percentage of teenage girls gets enough exercise is to be welcomed. But imagine trying to inspire more Bradley Wigginses via an interview with a man worrying about his ankle clips. Or his thighs.
Maria Miller, culture secretary and women and equalities minister, was among those who credited the success of female cyclists at London 2012 with the need for change. “British sportswomen led the way last year and our goal is to make sure that continues.” Almost half of Team GB’s cycling medals were won by women, despite the sport being dominated by men. Men earn much more and just last October a commission, headed by British Cycling’s Brian Cookson, for UCI, the sport’s global body, stated that while a minimum wage is required for male professionals, it wasn’t for women.
What’s more, while the membership of British Cycling is 85% male, its board is all-men. The organisation had to hand over to an adviser co-opted on to the board to present the “vision” of getting more women involved in cycling. Kirstie Moore said that while elite women have access to the same coaching as men, the launch was about “nailing its colours to the mast and saying this is really important to us”.
So how much is being invested? No one seemed to know. Miller mentioned £1.5bn on “youth and community sports” and £150m for school sport, but how much is going into promoting female cycling and over what time period drew a blank.
Tricia Thompson, director of Cycling at Sky, given credit for much of the success of the men’s road racing with its sponsorship of Team Sky, admitted that the broadcaster was not planning to set up an equivalent female team. “We looked into it but it isn’t necessarily the right thing to get more women cycling.” Reasons given ranged from the less-established racing calender to the fact that not many of us watched the final of the British netball last year. “It feels disingenuous to create a team just for parity,” she added.
But without real money, where will this “journey” in a sport that saw a doubling of female members last year take us? The biggest things promoted yesterday were the broadcaster’s mass participation events, Sky Ride, in which families are encouraged to take advantage of traffic-free rides.The new target of 1m more female cyclists over the next seven years will be measured using the annual cycling survey of women who say they cycle at least once a month and are cycling more than they did the year before.
A holistic approach to women’s cycling taking in the fact that the media is more willing to promote diets to teenage girls than muscles, and that many women (and men) find the roads scary is to be welcomed. Yet it seems hard to imagine that Nicole Cooke, the gold medallist credited with “putting cycling on the map” at the launch, had Sunday afternoon joy rides in mind when she took the sport to task for its ingrained sexism in a speech to mark her retirement.
Sue Tibballs, chief executive of the Women’s Sport and Fitness foundation, said London 2012 had increased visibility and interest in women’s sport. “There’s never been a moment like this,” she said. “Let’s not squander it.”
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