Empowering Women through Cycling
By celebrating World Bicycle Day, Prakash P Gopinath, the Bicycle Mayor of Thiruvananthapuram, aims to amplify the Indus Cycling Embassy’s (ICE) SheCycling campaign, which focuses on empowering women through cycling.
Teaching Women to Ride
Prakash, founder of ICE, has successfully taught over 400 women in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi to ride bicycles. Recently, volunteers of the SheCycle campaign, Beena O and Zeenath MA, dedicated their time to teach 52 inmates of Sri Chitra Home in Thiruvananthapuram how to cycle. As a result, three bicycles were gifted to the home, providing the women with a means of mobility and confidence.
Cycle Rallies and Expansion
The Trivandrum Bikers Club will host two rallies on June 3, and ICE plans for a 10-kilometre bicycle rally on June 4, from Kowdiar. Moreover, Prakash aims to extend the campaign to eight Indian cities, including Bengaluru, Surat, Kolkata, Indore, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Rajkot, and Pimpri-Chinchwad in Pune.
Empowering Women through Cycling
Zeenath, an advocate for the SheCycling campaign, believes that learning to cycle empowers women, especially those from economically and socially disadvantaged backgrounds. The project aims to break through cultural inhibitions and patriarchal norms that prevent women from cycling.
Future Goals
ICE envisions a future where at least 50% of Indian women will be cycle literate by 2030. The campaign aims to encourage female students, Kudumbasree and Anganwadi workers, and Asha workers to become cycle literate, creating a more inclusive cycling community.
