We celebrated International Women’s Day 2022 at The Bike Project with social rides in London and Birmingham. Activities included decorating our bikes, creating a communal banner with IWD messages, games in the sun, picnics, and, of course, cycling! It was a great day for the women in The Bike Project to come together, celebrate, and support each other.
We are proud at The Bike Project to reduce the gender divide in cycling through Pedal Power, our cycling programme for refugee women. Over 400 women have graduated from Pedal Power and are now confident cyclists on the road.
Here from Adiyam and Hafsa what Pedal Power means to them…
I have not been given the opportunity to cycle in my village Edageregesi in Eritrea. Every day women and girls cook, bring water from the river, clean the house. Everyday girls stay at home because of the culture. There is no equality, government is very dictator. Cycling is for boys only in Eritrea. With The Bike Project I am building knowledge and confidence about cycling. When I have learnt to cycle I want to use my bike to go to college, go shopping and for my mind. It’s healthy.
Hello there, I’m Hafsa (left). I’m from Somalia. I joined Pedal Power last December. I started learning how to ride a bicycle in the UK in January this year. Thanks to Sophia (right) and The Bike Project who helped me to learn how to ride a bike and supported me to get all the stuff I needed. Before I never ride a bike, it was one of my childhood dreams. And now it is becoming true. I can’t express my feeling, it feels so nice. I’m feeling like I’m born again. I’m feeling like I’m really free. It is one of my breaking boundaries projects that I set up for myself and I think I’m successful on this one. I’m so happy. I’m really glad. Thank you to The Bike Project, to Sophia, my instructor. Many many success for life for all of us, thank you!
Inspired to support Pedal Power? We are looking for more women cycling instructors. View the job description here.
