mless than two weeks to the start of the new journey of Silvia Gottardi and Linda Ronzoni. This time the Accidental cyclists will cross Europe: from Bolzano to Oslo by bike to focus attention on gender equality and promote women’s empowerment. They will pedal for over 2,000 km in total autonomy: that’s the project Gender Equality Ride which also aims to show how the condition of women changes going up the European continent. All, of course, in a sustainable way.
Gender Equality Ride, by bike from Bolzano to Oslo for gender equality
The International Association of Women’s Museums (IAWM) will help them in their efforts. The Cyclists by chance, in collaboration with the association, will thus organize meetings in 6 associated museums along the route.
Anyone who wants to can join and ride with the cyclists by chance in some stretches. For example, the first: the appointment is on August 1st in Bolzano: after 32km of cycling you will arrive in Merano, among the most advanced municipalities in terms of equal opportunities. He is also a proponent of the Action Plan for Gender Equality. Here, after a visit to the Women’s Museum, the first of the many talks that will accompany the rides will take place.
What does the bike have to do with gender equality
Cycle tourism and female empowerment are closely linked in the history of women, as in the personal experience of Silvia Gottardi and Linda Ronzoni.
See the story of Alfonsina Strada, the first and only woman to race the men’s Giro d’Italia in 1924, pioneer in gender equality in the sports field, inspiring muse of Cyclists on the street (they dedicated a book it’s a podcasts).
«For many years, and still today, the road to gender equality has passed through the bicycle. Two wheels have had a huge impact on women’s lives, allowing them to be independent, to travel alone, and sometimes to escape. The bicycle gave them, and continues to give everyone today, freedom», say the two protagonists.
Adding, with a joke, that “although the feminist struggle was born in the nineteenth century, and there have certainly been some steps forward in terms of access to education, self-determination, and the number of women in positions of power, there is still a lot to pedal!”.
Suffice it to recall that, according to the Global Gender Gap Report 2020Gender Equality in the workplace will not be achieved before 108 years. After that, it will be another 40 years before women and men are equally represented in political and national leadership. In short, the road, really, is still long.
The Cyclists by chance, leaving for the Gender Equality Ride
Between talk and laughter, the role of two wheels for women’s emancipation
The route of the Gender Equality Ride will wind through Austria, Germany and Norway. And, between talks and laughs, it will address issues related to gender equality, the role of the bicycle in the history of women’s emancipation, women’s sport.
Final stage, on August 27, at the Kvinnemuseet in Kongsvinger, near Oslo, where Silvia Gottardi and Linda Ronzoni will meet Mona Holm, president of the museum and president of the IAWM. Boys and girls from the local Cycling Academy will accompany the Female Cyclists part of the way to the Norwegian capital, where they will also meet representatives of the Professional Women’s Network.
So here are the dates.
1/08 Women’s Museum of Merano, Bolzano, Italy
5/08 Frauenmuseum Hittisau, Austria
10/08 Museum Frauenkultur FurthGermany
17/08 Frauenmuseum Berlin, Germany
24/08 KÿN – Gender Museum Denmark, Aarhus, Denmark
27/08 Kvinnemuseet Kongsvinger, Norway
29/08 Meeting with Professional Women’s Network @Oslo, Norway
Who are the cyclists by chance Silvia Gottardi and Linda Ronzoni
The name Cyclists by chance was born during a bike trip on the Carretera Austral, the legendary 1,200 km dirt road that runs against the wind along Chilean Patagonia, between fjords, glaciers and wild nature. After that first legendary journey, Silvia and Linda have never stopped pedaling.
Cyclists by chance is today a project that talks about cycle tourism, sustainability and women-empowerment. The goal, always the same: encourage women to travel, be independent and enterprising.
A lot of enthusiasm was filmed in the documentary Cicliste per caso, Grizzly tour (on Amazon Prime Italy and Netflix Europe).
Creators of the Mia Women Ride, the first multi-day bikepacking event for women only in Italy, Silvia and Linda are not only travel companions, they are life companions, and they joined civilly in 2018.
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