Pedalling their way to freedom

Twenty-year-old Rini Burman recently moved from her village in West Bengal to Delhi and is looking for a job to support her family, which currently subsists mostly on her mother's earnings.

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Her immediate challenge is getting around without enough money for transport or the bicycle she received in her village.

While studying in a rural government-run school in Nabadwip city in Nadia district, Burman-like all other senior secondary students-received a free bicycle, which she rode to her school, coaching classes, market, bank, and elsewhere in her proximity.

Her mother, Rinki, a domestic worker who has lived in Delhi for years, spends 10-15% of her wage on e-rickshaws, as shared rides are her only option for commuting from their Tughlakabad home to Chittaranjan Park for work. Her youngest daughter spends as much on her school travel. Burman could very well have taken her to school and back, but the family can't afford to buy a bicycle.

Marina Bibi Sheikh works as a cook in Gurugram. She is thankful that her father taught her to ride a bicycle when the family moved from Nadia in West Bengal to NCR. Now 29, she uses a cycle to commute between houses in upscale DLF Phase-5, saving on transport costs.

Many women like Sheikh, mostly migrants from West Bengal and Bihar, have learned to cycle in their villages due to government-run cycle distribution schemes for adolescent girls. However, older women who missed this opportunity are forced to walk long distances or rely on expensive shared autorickshaws they can barely afford.

'Untrammelled womanhood' In a world of gendered mobility cycling