Are British Cycling & Sky being deliberately sexist?

[mr_cellophane]

The Sky Ride leader I chatted to the other week (on a Sustrans ride I was running, funnily enough) said he didn't have to do any planning, and was simply emailed a list of planned rides starting at various points in the next few months and was asked which ones would he be able to lead.

That's odd because he is supposed to select the rides he would like to lead from the leaders portal on their website. Not all Leaders are route planners.

 

[mr_cellophane]

Is any of this addressing the core issue here?

There is no core issue. BC aren't being sexist because you are comparing two different "products". If the Breeze Champions don't like the rules, then they don't have to do it, they can just become Skyride leaders and get paid.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

No, I am not seeing much difference between being a ride leader and being a ride leader. I appreciate that I might be being a bit thick here but the subtle distinction is lost to me.

It is rather like thinking you and I could be identical twins.

 

[Flying Dodo]

There is no core issue. BC aren't being sexist because you are comparing two different "products". If the Breeze Champions don't like the rules, then they don't have to do it, they can just become Skyride leaders and get paid.

It's just a shame then that if a Breeze Ride leader wants to nurture and encourage women riders on a women only ride, they're expected to do it as a volunteer.

 

[Rob3rt]

Why not just join a club and set yourself to work on establishing a regular women's ride and/or encouraging women to join said club. This will provide a lasting solution...

 

[Spinney]

Why not just join a club and set yourself to work on establishing a regular women's ride and/or encouraging women to join said club. This will provide a lasting solution...

A lasting solution to Sky & BC being sexist??

 

[Rob3rt]

A lasting solution to Sky & BC being sexist??

A lasting solution to getting more women on bikes and cycling, with others!

 

[Flying Dodo]

That's odd because he is supposed to select the rides he would like to lead from the leaders portal on their website. Not all Leaders are route planners.

Could be - he simply said he was given a list, which I'd assumed was emailed. Anyway, as Adrian says, it's not relevant to the core issue.

 

[mcshroom]

Just to point out the core issue seems to have moved. The title says 'deliberately sexist'. Whether people feel the situation is or isn't sexist, I doubt many believe any sexism would be deliberate.


Now to go slightly back OT - Considering most of the 'organised riding' I do, I would actually suggest that the Skyride leaders being paid are the anomalies. The vast majority of organisers (for clubs, audaxes, forum rides, fnrttcs, etc.) are volunteers. This doesn't mean that it wouldn't be better to actually fund Breeze ride leaders and support them better, but just to point out that the Sky rides seem to be the unusual ones.

 

[Rob3rt]

The same could apply to the sky rides as well.

I agree and IME, people who come to our club after doing Sky rides generally arrive at a level we would deem beginners, i.e. group riding skills are poor to non-existent and fitness is low. The reasons why, I do not know (I don't actually know what goes on, on Sky rides). The solutions to these unknown reasons, I do not know. We have seen a few Sky Ride advanced (or whatever they call it now) turn up and go off the back of an easy ride within a mile. So I do wonder what they actually do to develop riders in any way. But of course any payment given to these ride leaders is going to attract people to do that role.

If you consider the entirely voluntary basis of this Breeze initiative, then the people volunteering to do it may well be better off investing the time and energy in building female membership in a local club. The role would be near identical, but the results sustainable and lasting as people can be shuttled off into appropriate channels as they progress. IMO it would also feel more like a community (I have no basis for saying this other than how I feel regarding my club and what I observe others saying).

 

[Rob3rt]

You don't appear to be addressing the issue here, the fact that chalk and chalk are being treated differently.

But are they? Sky Ride leaders can be male or female, in the case someone leads a Sky Ride, they are paid. This has been posted several times throughout this thread.

Breeze is "something else".

 

[Rob3rt]

Sky ride leaders are paid justifies the fact that sky ride leaders are paid but breeze ride leaders are not. Interesting.

I personally fail to see the relevance of the comparison between Sky Ride and Breeze. Given that Sky ride pays either male or female riders to lead the rides that is clean and easy and for me removes it from the equation.

Breeze is "something else". A different initiative etc.

If Breeze existed without the Sky Ride existing would people be complaining it was not a paid position?

 

[Rob3rt]

Similar but not the same.

Ultimately, my opinion on any sexist issues is swamped by my opinion of the initiatives in general.

 

[mcshroom]

@Rob3rt - If you have riders falling off the back of an 'easy' ride, then maybe you might consider the definition of 'easy'. Would it not be beneficial to try and bridge the gap well (and train these people how to ride in groups etc) so they are more likely to move over into being club members?

 

[Rob3rt]

@Rob3rt - If you have riders falling off the back of an 'easy' ride, then maybe you might consider the definition of 'easy'. Would it not be beneficial to try and bridge the gap well (and train these people how to ride in groups etc) so they are more likely to move over into being club members?

I'd say a ride looking to average 13-15 mph for 30 miles is suitably defined as easy (you could flip your comment and say maybe Sky ought to re-think what they call advanced, I certainly would not consider someone who struggles to ride at 13-15 mph average as advanced). Also, these rides are exactly aimed at teaching people group riding skills and learning about and hopefully joining the club (given that out membership is very large and growing at a fast rate, they appear to be working very well. We also have a fast growing womens membership)!

The main issue being, you can not accommodate everyone, especially with limited resources. Which is exactly why I said that people would likely be better off investing their time and energy into volunteering in a club to help implement such a thing than running Sky rides etc. However if Sky insist on paying people to lead rides...