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PIONEERS IN WOMEN CYCLING
By Celine Champonnet, on 05.23.2020In the early 1800s, the bicycle proved to be a great means of transportation for women, despite public opinion. Criticized by society for not being elegant, considered dangerous for fertility by doctors and decried as immoral by some men, the bicycle will overcome prejudice and criticism to become a staple of the end of the 19th century. And that thanks to some pretty courageous women. A look back at 4 of them who started to write the history of women's cycling.
BLANCHE D’ANTIGNY 1840-1874- French
She was a star of french theatre and opera. She was one of the first women to be painted and portrayed with her bike. It seems that she was the first woman to ride a bike in public and for this she filled out a prefectural authorization form to be able to wear pants. Blanche would, therefore, be a great contribution to the emancipation of women. Parisian, she excels in federal fields: journalism, circus, and theater. During the Franco-Prussian War, she welcomed the wounded in her private mansion. She advertised Michaux bikes. ( Pierre Michaux created and developed the manufacture of pedal velocipedes). She was also the model for the heroine of ‘Nana’ by Émile Zola.
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LADY HARBERTON (FLORENCE WALLACE POMEROY) 1843-1911- British
Committed to cycling, freedom, and femininity. She was president of the western rational dress society. At the end of the 19th century, Lady Harberton was one of the leaders of the women's movement who campaigned for their rights to use a bicycle. She was one of the first to promote an outfit suitable for cycling. At the time, the bicycle offered new freedoms that women did not have. It allowed to move around alone and do physical exercise. She was a passionate cyclist and drove more groups of female cyclists thereafter, and was a milestone on the path to female emancipation.
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ANNIE COHEN KOPCHOVSKY 1870-1947 - American*****
ALFONSINA STRADA 1891-1959 - Italian*****
And it is by fighting, and especially cycling that women have acquired the right to freedom, mobility and emancipation.
"The bicycle has done more for the empowerment of women than anything in the world. I persist and I rejoice every time I see a woman on a bike ” Susan B. Anthony: American women's rights activist, 1896.