Looking for a great gift to help change the world this holiday season? Consider donating to these organizations that give bikes to girls around the world. When girls have bikes, they can get to school faster and more regularly with reduced incidence of sexual harassment, assault, and trafficking. Increased education for girls has a longterm, proven, positive ripple effect throughout entire communities.
If you have a girl in your life here in the USA, give her the gift of a right-sized bike and support for riding it. If your city streets are not safe for her to ride (it is illegal to ride on the sidewalk over the age of 12 in most places), take her where she can ride without worry. And then take her to your local city hall to help change things.
(Note: Many women find that riding a bike reduces incidence of street harassment experienced while walking or on public transit. So, so many women to whom I talk have referred to their bikes as their “getaway vehicles.” Building riding skills while girls are young, and keeping it going during the teen years, is a gift for life. If interested, read more about street harassment and female empowerment — including stories from many of my classes — in my book, Traveling at the Speed of Bike.)
Photo: Girls to whom I taught bike skills this past year as a Bike Ambassador for the bronze-level Bike Friendly Community of Decatur, GA. See more about my classes here.
Traveling at the Speed of Bike 