Patriarchy and Bicycle Repair

The bike world, like almost everything else, has a lot to do with gender -- men and women have different kinds of experience in it. Bike repair, in particular is exteremly male dominated. A typical scenerio in a shop is an all male team of mechanics who tend to treat women paternalistically, presuming what they need, and giving them much more help than they do men. Much of this reflects some inappropriate attitudes held by both men and women, as well as the structure of the cycling industry.

The Bicycle Church is explicitly about breaking down class, race and gender barriers in bike repair, so it is important for ministers (especially since most of you are likely to be men) to be aware of these issues. Try to be awrare of what type of help you are giving to whom (particularly when you do the work for them), and why.