Local council wording on women in equalities assessment - make sure you look nice on your bikes ladies!

[MakeSureYouLookNiceOnABikeLadies]

From a local counsellor on SM today:

Kingston Council - do women really matter?
This morning I informed Kingston Council - Kingston Stronger Together of an inappropriate statement about women in the Equalities Impact Assessment for their new e-bike contract.

WTF?? The statement has apparently been withdrawn but who the hell wrote it in the first place? This is what the Lib Dems think of women, you know, the cunty types - not the special women that local MP Ed Davey wrote a letter about needing special protections recently. (This is his constituency btw if you didn't already know that.)

Lol.
I do get that it might have come from some document about barriers to cycling, like needing a change of clothes and a shower, which probably disproportionately prevents women from cycling. I like cycling but it's an issue that doesn't impact my male colleagues quite the same way (our work is quite informal) . They can just get away with a quick T-shirt swap where we might want to bring a better change.
But... Hilarious the way they've put it! Looking nice on a bike. 1865 called.

Don't forget your "traditional domestic responsibilities" @cordeliavorkosigan, I'm sure your male colleagues don't have to worry their pretty heads about those!

Oh my word. I wonder what Ed's view on this is?

What’s the difference between look nice and looking “nice”?

Maybe they meant to say helps women transport their naice ham?

Balancing on this electric bike is making it hard to peg the washing out.

It’s poorly worded but it’s a valid underlying point.

One repeated reason given for not cycling is getting sweaty and dishevelled and needing time to change, and not having time due to domestic commitments.

Highlighting that providing electric bikes helps with both of those is valid.

Similarly, while the wording is obviously really poor, I also interpret it as the use of „nice” in quotes hinting that it is a shortcut to mean not sweaty etc. This is definitely true for me (I use an electric bike for parts of my commute, but wouldn’t do the same with a classic one). As far as domestic duties go, sadly us women do more of them and also fit more of them around the commute to/from work - groceries can be very heavy to carry on a classic bike

As far as domestic duties go, sadly us women do more of them and also fit more of them around the commute to/from work - groceries can be very heavy to carry on a classic bike

This may be true, but wording it as "traditional domestic responsibilities" is pretty offensive and outdated!

Edited: sorry, my mistake. They said "responsibilities" not "duties" 😁

I absolutely agree that the wording is awful

I suppose at least they got the protected characteristic of "Sex" right though (when they were being sexist)
Small victories!

That’s hilariously inappropriate in the specific context of challenging sexism!😂
As for the ‘looking nice’ meaning ‘not in a lather’, IME blokes tend to be a bit sweatier than women after cycling.

Don’t you think it’s a disgruntled underling who put this in to catch out his boss - “he never reads anything anyway” - and can’t believe that it actually worked?

I can’t believe that anyone in the workplace today would seriously write those words.

Maybe I’m naive?

The male colleagues are no doubt fixing their engines and watching football, or out in the woods with spears hunting the dinner, or something... So they can manage cycling around their domestic life. Lol.