Help! Discrimination against female cyclists

[Irulan]

I don't agree that this is discrimination, as others have also said. I think this is a case of people (promoters, sponsors, etc.) investing their dollars where they will see the highest return.

This is exactly what I meant with my comment on the economics of it all, thank you for expanding on it.

When I hear the word discrimination, I really think of the intent to keep a group down: Jim Crow, segregated schools, organizations that exclude based on gender, religion etc.

In women's sports, I don't think its an intention to exclude; I think that it's whomever in charge following the money.

[shootingstar]

This is exactly what I meant with my comment on the economics of it all, thank you for expanding on it.

When I hear the word discrimination, I really think of the intent to keep a group down: Jim Crow, segregated schools, organizations that exclude based on gender, religion etc.

In women's sports, I don't think its an intention to exclude; I think that it's whomever in charge following the money.

I understand about the chicken and egg problem.
However to garner corporate sponsorship dollars, often it requires educating potential sponsors of why it's worth investing in training support dollars for a marginalized group or a group of players /people that general public don't know their potential.

Canadian women playing hockey at the national and international levels is an interesting case...where more and more girls/women are playing hockey when they are younger.

My partner worked for a major national oil firm that consciously promoted its women into senior management ranks since the 1970's. This was a huge deal when there were less women in engineering positions compared to now. The firm's committment to equity is reflected as one of the corporate sponsor's for Canadian women's hockey.
http://www.whockey.com/country/canada/nats/ It wouldn't be surprising that this sponsorship is highly influenced by:

a) their employees who have daughters who play hockey. Or some female employees playing hockey. One has to influence the decision-makers who hold the corporate purse strings for big dollar sponsorship for a women's sport that is not well known for large numbers of pro /international participation. And some of those decision-makers in senior ranks...are women. I am a strong believer in ripple effect of social change in 1 area that spills over in ever-widening circles.

b) there is a critical mass of a) that generates public interest who will pay.

c) a) +b) enough experienced athletes to influence/inspire next generation for more regular participants in races, etc.

The big question for corporate sponsorship of women in pro cycling/events from their perspective is: Why bother? How does corporate dollars in pro cycling translate for long-standing benefits to the bigger community/world?

Methinks that alot of us long-term cyclists can immediately respond what would be the long-term benefits of corporate dollars spent on encouraging competitive cycling, or cycling in general for that matter. Problem sometimes, is motivating others to stick to/get into cycling long enough.

Maybe we're thinking just about the current type of racing choices. Why couldn't there be a long endurance race of all women's teams across the continent? This might give more long term publicity that would be comparable to the tour. Of course, back to same 'problem', would there be enough qualified women who would want to pariticipate.

[Crankin]

This subject is complicated, because, as others have said, it's not just a problem of women being discriminated against or underrepresented in racing. It's a problem with cycling generating the same kind of interest as let's say baseball (the only other sport I know something about). A couple of months ago, Nicole Freedman, the "bike czar" for the city of Boston spoke to my club. Most of the other listeners were shocked when she told her story of the conditions she lived under and how little money she made in her time as a pro/Cat 1 racer. We were not. Our former exchange student was a pro for 2 development level teams in Germany and last year rode for the Rite Aid team, based out of Philadelphia. He had to take a "break" from his crappy lifestyle last June and come "home" to stay with us for 2 weeks, before racing at Fitchburg. It wasn't just a vacation. Living in a cement square room, with hardly any money and no car was hard. He trained well and they liked him, but now that this was the third team that folded (their successor asked him back and he said no), he went back to Germany and started a business and was going to school part time. He's now going to be starting college at a state school in Colorado, where they are paying his whole way and living expenses to be on their cycling team. At age 24, he just couldn't take the financial chances that being a pro was asking of him. He didn't ride from September to March, because he was so emotionally upset over this. Since his business is on line and he has partners, he can continue it, while in school.
So, I can imagine how a woman would be treated. And, as Margo said, half of the recreational/fitness cyclists are women. Around here, it seems as if it's more than half. The industry needs to listen to us, because we are a huge group who have buying power.