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The early style bikes, velocipedes, aka ‘bone crushers’, included
the penny farthing above. The only way to get this design to
go faster was to increase the front wheel diameter, resulting in
frequent face plants. This rider is prepared with bandages, splints,
arnica ointment and surgical book. Off to the races!
Penny farthings were raced both on racetracks and over long
distances over rough country roads. In 1887, a 50-mile race out of
Christchurch was covered in about 3.5 hours.
Bloomers were named after American
suffragette, Amelia Bloomer (1818-1894),
who’d been inspired by the pants worn by
fashionable Turkish ladies in Istanbul. She
first wore this outfit in 1851.
The bloomers elminated up to 14 pounds
of petticoats, and it consisted of a knee
length skirt over ankle length pantaloons.
The costume evolved over time; the skirt was
eventually eliminated and the pantaloons
‘puff’ stopped at the knee, with tight leggings
to the ankle to prevent tangling in gears.
THE REFORM DRESS MOVEMENT
Clare S. Simpson writes in
her thesis,
A Social History
of Women and Cycling in the
Late-Ninteenth Century NZ:
“The bicycle was a product of
modern ideas, designs, and
technology, and eventually
came to symbolise freedom
in diverse ways. The dual-
purpose nature of the bicycle
(i.e., as a mode of transport and as a recreational tool) enabled
women to become more physically and geographically mobile, as
well as to pursue new directions in leisure. It afforded, moreover,
increasing opportunities to meet and socialise with a wider range of
male acquaintances, free from the restrictions of etiquette and the
requirements of chaperonage.
“As a symbol of the ‘New Woman’, the bicycle graphically represented
a threat to the proprieties governing the behaviour and movements of
respectable middle-class women in public.
“When women decided to move into public space on their bicycles
in more conspicuous ways, they became the objects of derision in
ways that men did not, catalysing debates about female propriety, the
ramifications of which have persisted to this day”.
BIKE DRIVES WOMEN’S DRESS REFORM
Famed NZ suffragette Kate Sheppard – one of the first female cyclists
in Christchurch and of the Atalanta Cycle Club – was an early bike
advocate (see sidebar right). Among the causes she first promoted
CYCLES ARE SYNERGY FOR SUFFRAGETTES
Kate Sheppard for Woman’s Rights
T
he bicycle could not have come along at a more opportune time
for women. In the late 1880s, the women of New Zealand were just
building up steam pressing for related feminist issues. This included the
temperance movement to prohibit alcohol, and to get temperance laws
passed women
needed
the power of the vote.
In 1885, Katherine “Kate” Wilson Sheppard, cofounded the Woman’s
Christian Temperance Union, and two years later became the leader of
the already established national suffrage movement. Her unwavering zeal,
speeches, writings and valiant efforts (a 32,000 signature petition) were
successful; NZ women (including Maori women) were granted the right to
vote in 1893, the first modern nation in the world to do so. Her success
invigorated the suffrage movements in both America and England.
The actual right to vote meant there could be laws written to help protect
women and children. Sheppard championed many women’s rights issues:
contraception, the right to divorce, the guardianship of children, and the
abolishment of organ crushing corsets and other restrictive clothing.
An early member of the all-woman Atalanta Cycle Club in Christchurch,
Sheppard encouraged hearty physical activity for women and, when the
accepted ‘scientific’ norm held that women were too frail for the bone
rattling exertion of cycling, Sheppard promoted its benefits.
“Woman is riding to suffrage on the bicycle...”
Susan B. Anthony, American suffragette
“We are tired of having a ‘sphere’
doled out to us, and of being told that
anything outside that sphere is ‘unwomanly.’
We want to be natural just for a change ...
we must be ourselves at all risks.”
Kate Sheppard
As the country’s
most powerful
suffragette,
Sheppard is
honoured on our
ten dollar note.
Pippa Coom,
who serves on the Waitemata Local Board,
was invited in 2013 by the Auckland branch of
NCWNZ
to
speak on the role of the bicycle in the suffrage movement.
The country was celebrating 120 years since NZ women
were granted the vote:
“I love using a bike for transport because it is freedom – from traffic jams,
petrol prices and parking problems.
“So I can imagine the incredible feeling of freedom experienced by women
when the safety bicycle was invented in the 1880s. Cycling was an activity
that women could do equally with men, especially wearing bicycle
bloomers.
“NZ women were huge enthusiasts for riding. Kate Sheppard was one
of the pioneering cyclists and a member of the Atalanta cycling club in
Christchurch. I am just imagining Kate and the suffragists on their bicycles
collecting many of the 32,000 signatures that secured women the vote.
“I thank them for their activism and determination and acknowledge the role
of the bicycle in the emancipation of women”.
A Thames woman, out alone in public
The National Council of Women of NZ was founded
in 1896, with Kate Sheppard as its first president.
It is still active today as a women’s lobbying group.
A sufferage postcard from England, referring to NZ
women’s success winning the right to vote.
WWW.COROMANDELLIFE.CO.NZ27
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