“I think bicycling has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world…Women feel freedom and self-reliance…the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood.”
Susan B. Anthony spoke these words to famed journalist Nellie Bly in 1896. She added she was delighted whenever she saw women bicycling.
More than horses ever could, bicycles gave women the freedom to go where they wanted, when they wanted. Changes in women’s clothing took place, too.
Out with layers of starched petticoats and confinement by laced-up corsets, which damaged women’s anatomy. In with shorter skirts, looser undergarments, bloomers, and culottes.
How are you helping to emancipate your daughters today? Moms and Dads have an equal responsibility to open the world to women of all ages. Even if your corner of the world seems equal, it really won’t be until women make more than $.77 cents for every $1.00 men make.
As an interesting side note, Susan B Anthony was the first woman whose image was struck on a circulating coin: the $1.00 coin.
Education Spring 