organizer
SEMA GÜR
sky is lush
If women take to the streets, the world will change.
My name is Sema Gür. I was born in Bandırma in 1973. I have been teaching history at Izmir American College since 1997.
SEMA GÜR
What is the Fancy Women Bike Ride?
FANCY WOMEN BIKE TOUR is a bicycle and women’s event held once a year. The tour is an act of drawing attention. The first tour was held in Izmir on Sunday, September 22, 2013. Izmir women come to this tour with their stylish clothes and decorated bicycles. I am careful not to carry any party or bicycle group symbols. All women on bicycles can participate. Our conditions for participating in the tour are to wave and smile at those who look at us with their decorated bicycles and be surprised.
SEMA GÜR
What is the Purpose of This Event?
I learned to ride a bike when I was about 38 years old. If it weren’t for my close friends who helped me when I first started, I wouldn’t have had the courage to go on the roads with my bike. I also wanted to give courage to the women of Izmir.
There were many women around me who asked me how I could go on long tours at this age. What I heard from most people was that their bikes were rotting on balconies or in basements… I had friends who encouraged me, so I thought I should do something to get women out of their homes and onto the roads. Women who knew little about cycling were also complaining about the male-dominated attitude of the existing tours. I thought I could do something to encourage them.
Çevremde bu yaştan sonra nasıl uzun turlara gittiğimi soran çok kadın oldu. Çoğu insandan duyduğum ise, bisikletlerinin balkonda, bodrumda çürümüş olduğuydu…Beni cesaretlendiren arkadaşlarım vardı, o zaman evlerinden bisikletlerini çıkarıp kadınları yollara dökecek bir şey yapmam gerektiğini düşündüm. Bisiklete binmeyi az bilen kadınlar da varolan turların erkek egemen tavrından yakınıyordu. Onları cesaretlendirecek bir hareket yapabileceğimi düşündüm.
sema gür
Why Bicycle?
The bicycle is the symbol of freedom. Why shouldn’t the bicycle be the symbol of freedom for women in Turkey? I should be able to go out on the streets with my bicycle whenever I want, in the clothes I want. People should get used to this image. The most suitable city to start this movement is Izmir… In short, our aim is to show the free stance of women, to draw attention to the theme of bicycles, freedom and women in a male-dominated society, to ensure that more people ride bicycles, to ensure that the sanctions regarding bicycle paths increase as the number of cyclists increases, to draw attention to bicycle accidents, to create an alternative idea to vehicle traffic, to make society think about an environmentally friendly and silent means of transportation.
izmir
We were described as “discriminatory” by male cyclists. There were those who supported us, but we also heard disturbing statements. We practice “positive discrimination” . We are not a feminist movement. If we have a political side, it is “the free stance of women”. Our stance is to mix into social life with or without our bikes as we wish, without the guidance and permission of a man. We, female cyclists, go on tours together with women and men, in our uniforms and appropriate clothes anyway. Our aim is not to always ride bicycles in fancy clothes. Bicycles can be a part of our daily lives. We wanted to show the part where “we can ride in our daily clothes or dresses”. All other bicycle actions are done together with women and men. We agree with most of them. We are not discriminatory…
TEDx
April 7, 2017 – Click here for the TEDxBursa presentation by Sema Gür, the organizer of the Fancy Women Bike Ride .
sema gür
Do something that will give courage, strength and purpose to all women.
The event, which started for the sake of a promise and turned into a carnival, brings all women out into the streets. Put a flower on your bike, place an ornament and go out freely. The documentary tells how the Fancy Women Bike Tour spread and Sema Gür’s success story.