After a number of months’ hard work behind the scenes, notably from a working group that represents our whole organisation, and with thoughts from our Women’s Development Group, we now want your input before we finalise our direction of travel.
The strategy below sets out the key principles, but the message at the core of it all is simple – we’re making a commitment to driving a step change in women and girls’ participation.
Despite a number of successful interventions, the rate of progress isn’t meeting the high standards we set ourselves at Scottish Cycling, so we have created this strategy to guide our thinking and will have a clear action plan that sits behind it, detailing how we are going to accelerate progress towards providing a more inclusive and welcoming environment for women and girls to enjoy the sport of cycling.
Why?
Despite making up over 50% of the population, women and girls are under-represented in cycling, a situation familiar to many sports. When we look at it in numbers, 76% of women do not cycle, but perhaps more encouragingly, 36% of the women who currently do not cycle would like to, highlighting a great opportunity for us to make a real difference.
Our organisational strategy, Developing a Nation of Cyclists 2.0, sets out a clear mission statement: “To inspire the nation to participate in cycling and support the Scottish Cycling community to realise their full potential. To lead and enable our members, clubs and partners to develop cycling for everyone.”
On top of this we have a golden thread that states: “Cycling is truly inclusive, offering opportunities for anyone and everyone to experience the benefits, and thrill, riding a bike can bring.”
This strategy is our way of breaking down barriers to inclusion for women & girls and accelerating the progress of developing cycling for everyone.
Feedback
As a valued member of our community, we’d would love your feedback. Hopefully you think we’re on the right lines – however whatever you think, good or bad, we want to hear your views.
We will also be targeting a number of groups who aren’t currently part of the Scottish Cycling community, but we hope one day will be. By doing so, we hope to get a sense of what those who currently face a barrier to entry, think of what we’re proposing.
Please share your thoughts via our survey here
Please note, we will be closing the feedback form at midnight on Sunday 9th June.
Finally, if you, your club, association, or organisation would like to discuss this further with us, we would be happy to set up a call – to do so simply email [email protected]