Scottish Cycling is committed to growing the number of women and girls in cycling in a bid to achieve gender parity. Last week was Women and Girls in Sport Week, providing an opportunity to shine a spotlight on women and girls’ involvement in cycling across many different areas, using different media platforms, plus one event that took place in real-life!
Tell us what you thought
Please complete a very short survey to provide your feedback on our Scottish Women and Girls Sport Week activities and ideas for future initiatives.
Online Events
There were three online events, each addressing a very different topic relevant to women and girls. We had an interactive session on event volunteering, hosted by National Events Officer, Morven Brown, and breakout room discussions facilitated by Cathy Gilchrist, Justine Cameron and Ashley Ryan. If you missed this session you can watch it on the Scottish Cycling YouTube Channel here.
#SCTalks considered why there are fewer women and girls involved in cycling, the initiatives attempting to increase their numbers and what else could be done to achieve gender parity. The session was facilitated by Scottish Cycling board member Fiona Cockburn, and the panel consisted of former athlete and coach Sarah Rowe, current rider and coach Helen Gorman, coach and Scottish Cycling Young People’s Panel member Isobel Harris, and Breeze Champion and Scottish Cycling Women’s Development Group member Leanne Whitehead. Watch the session here.
Our final Zoom session, chaired by Dr Judith Lane from Queen Margaret University, provided information on cycling and periods and a panel discussion with practical advice and suggestions from women involved in different disciplines and roles in cycling: Lauren Bell, British Cycling Senior academy sprint cyclist, Diane Clayton Chisholm, cyclist, coach, club president, Scottish Cycling board member, Amy Hickman, cyclist and Scottish Cycling Women’s Development Group Member and Kerry MacPhee, elite level cyclist competing in cyclocross and mountain biking cross country. Catch up on this session here
Video Interviews
Eilidh and Erin from our Young People’s Panel, and Morven from the Events team, interviewed three high profile women in cycling, with reflections on their experiences in the sport, female role models and advice for new cyclists amongst the chat. Here are the links to each of these videos:
Website Articles
The Scottish Cycling website and social media channels provided the opportunity to showcase various aspects of women and girls projects at Scottish Cycling and contributions from our wider cycling community.
We kicked the week off with an article on HSBC UK Breeze, our initiative training and supporting volunteers to deliver free bike rides in their local communities to support more women into cycling.
Next up was an update on the Rider2Leader programme, that last year provided training and support to female mountain bikers interested in achieving the level 2 MTB Leadership award.
Leanne Farmer, Breeze Champion and Women’s Development Group member, interviewed three females with very different experiences in cycling and wrote an article we shared on the Scottish Cycling website.
Another article provided the headline findings from a recent survey on women and girls participation at cycling clubs. These findings will assist in the development of a toolkit for cycling clubs to help them increase their female membership.
Finally, on Active Girls Day, Friday 30th October, we provided an update on some of the clubs who had received funding from our 2019 Active Girls Day funding initiative.
You can find all the articles below:
- HSBC UK Breeze in Scotland: Increasing Women’s Participation in Cycling
- Rider2Leader: Supporting more women into MTB leadership
- Leanne Farmer, Women’s Development Group Member, meets some amazing female cyclists
- Women And Girls Membership Of Cycling Clubs Survey Findings
- Update On Scottish Cycling Active Girls Fund 2019
A Real Event
Despite the coronavirus restrictions our Glasgow Go Ride coaches were able to deliver some face-to-face pump track coaching to female groups. Breeze Champions in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board region and girls from some local schools were able to take part, enjoying the thrills and spills of the pump track at Knightswood BMX centre.
Tell us what you thought
Please complete a very short survey to provide your feedback on our Scottish Women and Girls Sport Week activities and ideas for future initiatives.
