Two Wheels, Million Dreams: Cycling Is Helping Rural Girls Lead A 'Silent Revolution'

Girls in rural India are cycling to school, leading a 'silent revolution' against gender inequality, say researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies. A study in the Journal of Transport Geography revealed that bicycle demands among young girls have significantly grown over the years. The paper revealed that the percentage of rural girls cycling to school has shot up from 4.5% in 2007 to 11% in 2017. The overall percentage of children cycling to school has gone up from  6.6% in 2007 to 11.2% in 2017.

Srishti Agrawal, one of the lead researchers, said, “It is a revolution because India has the highest level of immobility among females. Women are much less likely to make a trip outside the home compared to men. And here we see such phenomenal growth in cycling levels among girls in rural areas.”

Girls Cycling To School

Researchers Agrawal, Rahul Goel, and Adit Seth studied three rounds of the National Sample Survey on social consumption on education— 2007-08, 2014 and 2017-18. They emphasised that gender inequality should be seen within the broader context of patriarchal norms that restrict the mobility of women.

The study found that among school-going children in the age group of 5 to 17 years, cycling levels in rural areas almost doubled from 6.3% in 2007 to 12.3% in 2017. The corresponding age group in urban areas did not show a significant change over the decade, growing from 7.8% in 2007 to 8.3% in 2017.

Out of 35 States and Union Territories (the paper considered the undivided State of Andhra Pradesh), the government's Bicycle Distribution Schemes (BDS) were implemented in 20. Under the schemes, either a bicycle is provided or funds for the purchase of a bicycle are transferred to schoolchildren.

Top 10 States In Cycling Among Girls

Agrawal noted that the top 10 states with the largest growth in cycling levels among girls are those which have BDS. "States provide bicycles to school-going children usually in the age group of 14 to 17 years, to improve enrolment rates, specifically among girls because their drop-out rates are higher," she said.

According to reports, the Indian government began studying cycling behaviour for the first time only in the last Census in 2011. Only 20% of those travelling to work outside the home reported cycling as their main mode of transport. The scheme of distribution of free bicycles started in 2006-07.