When the cycling fad hit New York in the 1870s and 1880s, it was danger-courting men who mostly took up the wheel—scorching down city streets and joining cycling clubs for group jaunts to the far reaches of New York and Brooklyn.
But with the invention of what was called the “safety bicycle,” which had wheels closer to the ground and pedals that powered the back wheel rather than the front, cycling became less a risky activity and more of an exhilarating way to get around.
That’s when women began cycling in large numbers.
The sense of freedom these “steel steers” offered is credited with paving the way for the women’s rights gains of the 20th century.
For starters, cycling helped change women’s fashion. It was impossible for the bright, sporty New Woman of the 1890s to ride while weighed down with petticoats and a corset like the women of her mother’s generation wore.
Women began wearing looser-fitting cycling suits with slimmer “divided” skirts (below right), which gave way to less confining everyday fashion.
“From wheeling to walking is but a step, and a sensible dressing being now firmly established in the cycling world, it is beginning to creep into the walking costume, and we are told that the skirts of those gowns are to be shorter,” wrote the New York Times in 1895.
Less restrictive clothes served as a metaphor for the New Woman’s less restricted social life. Cycling became something she could do alone or in a group without a chaperone.
Physical activity also had an impact. Previous generations of women were not encouraged to exercise; they were supposed to project physical frailty.
Biking required some level of exertion, however, and that changed the feminine ideal to one of action and strength.
The shift from an ideal of weakness to empowerment didn’t immediately give women the right to vote or instantly open up higher education to them.
But it appears to have helped move things in that direction.
“The bicycle has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance,” said Susan B. Anthony, who helped launch the equal rights movement in the mid–19th century well before the bicycle came along and women began riding through Central Park, Riverside Drive, and Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn, three popular venues.
“I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel…the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.”
[Photos: Women riders in Upper Manhattan, MCNY]
Tags: bicycle suits 19th century, equal rights women NYC, fashion covers 1890, female cyclists NYC, Susan B. Anthony NYC, wheelwomen of New York City, Women cyclists, women on bicycles, women's fashion 1890s
February 29, 2016 at 11:15 am |
This is fantastic! Thank you for sharing!
February 29, 2016 at 1:27 pm |
I write about this very phenomenon in my biography Winnie Davis: Daughter of the Lost Cause. Excellent article! Ephemeral New York is my absolute favorite blog always fascinating stories from a forgotten time. Heath Lee
February 29, 2016 at 5:35 pm |
For more on the role the bicycle played in liberating women, have a look at: Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way) by Sue Macy
February 29, 2016 at 6:38 pm |
Thank you! Macy’s book looks fascinating, and for a first-hand account of an 1890s suffragist learning to ride the wheel, take a look at Frances Willard’s account here: https://books.google.com/books?id=BGf2qL-n0pUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=suffragette+learning+to+ride+the+wheel&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjLkvHDzp3LAhUGlB4KHRm1DLkQ6AEIJTAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
March 2, 2016 at 9:56 am |
[…] Source: How bicycles helped liberate women in the 1890s | Ephemeral New York […]
March 20, 2016 at 1:02 am |
Some local history: http://storiesfromipswich.org/2014/08/29/ipswich-and-the-golden-age-of-cycling/
March 20, 2016 at 3:16 pm |
Anyone studied the relationships pre car between women cycling and trains? Did women take their bikes with them on longer journeys?
July 25, 2016 at 5:32 am |
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