"Simply, ‘Wadjda’ is a story about a girl who wants to ride a bike. The film approaches a number of the legal and cultural boundaries that restrict women in Saudi Arabia, while keeping the young protagonist’s desire to ride her bike case-in-point."
The International Day of the Girl gives us a powerful way to highlight the particular needs and rights of girls, and to advocate for greater action and investment to enable girls to reach their full potential. Today, girls still face discrimination in many parts of the world simply because they are girls. They face unique challenges such as barriers to education and opportunities to make a living, early and forced marriage, and poverty. By ensuring girls have a right to an education, we’ll help them attain the tools they need to create a better life for themselves and lift entire nations out of poverty. Here’s why:
- For every extra year a girl stays in school, her income can increase by 15 to 25%.
- A woman who is educated will marry later and have fewer, healthier children.
- Women invest more of their income in their families than men do.
So new york. what a trip. Epic bike rides to art shows to film screenings to dance parties to border crossings.
I think what I love most about attending the BFF in New York, is the people who travel in from all over the world. It’s so empowering to surround yourself with individuals just as involved, and just as in love with their bicycles. A community that transcends class and culture.
It also meant that the screenings were a beast all of their own. Lots of yelling and cheering and loving smack talk. A lively crowd to say the least.
But one thing has stuck with me that I’m feeling a little conflicted on. Brendt, the founder of the festival got up the the beginning of the Urban Shorts program and introduced directors, etc. During which he said lovely things about us Nightshades. He pointed out that two areas that are severely lacking in women, are specifically the film community, and the bike community. And how exciting it is to see more girls like us, stepping up.
Sentiments that were wonderful to have publicly acknowledged. But, at the same time, while it’s nice to be noticed as a minority in a scene, it’s weird to be called out for being women. It’s not as though anyone else would be called out for being a man. And while I in no way fault Brendt for his kind comments towards us- if anything, it just highlighted how far we have to go. And made me wonder why this is. Why we are such a novelty. Why more girls don’t ride. Or rather, why more girls don’t make themselves seen in the cycling community in the same numbers than men do. Because I think there are a lot of us out there.
Maybe it’s time for us to band together a little more. So for starters, if you are, or know of any rad girls who ride, send a link or a photo to dnsbikegang@gmail.com.
We’d love to rep all those lovely ladies on bikes out there. Because I know we’re not alone in this.
Also, side note: SERIOUSLY TORONTO?!?! COME ON!
