Scheme of the Month - Beauty and the Bike, Bike It, Exeter
The Beauty and the Bike project was conceived by Emma Osborne, as part of the highly successful Sustrans Bike It project in Exeter. It provides prestigious, fun sessions for secondary school girls to help overcome negative images of cycling and to inspire and empower them to cycle to school.
Sessions are run in school time and offer girls in years 7, 8 and 9 free advice and practical solutions for looking and feeling good when arriving by bike. The project also provides dedicated changing and storage areas for use by girls who cycle to school.
Each session comprises two professionally delivered workshops:
Looking Good (delivered by the Body Shop or other Partner)
Feeling Good (delivered by a female role model)
Beauty and the Bike does not promote the wearing of make-up or reinforce media images which pressure girls to look and behave in a certain way. It aims to challenge girls’ inhibitions and to encourage and celebrate their efforts to travel in a way that is good for their health and the environment.
“The sorts of reasons that girls give for not wanting to cycle to school include; not wanting to be seen wearing a helmet, not wanting to “get messed up”, worrying that boys will laugh at them if they fall off, worrying that they will get hot and sweaty. Girls also have concerns about cycling with traffic and are often unaware of the local traffic-free routes…
One of the most powerful messages the female role model can give is to look and be fit and show how confident and happy she is with herself as a result of choosing to travel in an active way.
The inclusion of makeover/skincare is a “hook” to gain girls’ interest. In Exeter, The Body Shop’s consultants run a “looking good” workshop including discussion on the ethics of make-up manufacture, skin care advice and makeovers. Product samples form part of a Bike It gift pack.
Bike It aims to deliver a balanced programme so that boys don’t feel discriminated against.
At Isca College of Media and Arts (an 11-16 secondary school in Exeter) 54 girls attended three Beauty and the Bike sessions and ten came to the puncture repair session and gave positive feedback. Future work will include more bike maintenance, cycle skills and rides for girls as well as general Bike It activities.
For more information visit the Bike It page of the Sustrans web site.
