How Bicycles Changed Women's Lives | Origins: The Journey of Humankind

There are always consequences to what we create, often unintended. And some can cause serious problems. But sometimes, those unintended consequences are for the best. Nowhere is this more true than with our advancements in transportation. One early ride came to symbolize freedom for an entire gender.

Illinois, 1893, Frances Willard, the famous fighter for women's rights, experienced the wind in her face for the very first time on the seat of a safety bicycle.

AMANDA FOREMAN: I think it's hard for us to imagine today what it is like to be literally trapped inside your own house. Women were literally trapped at home in the 19th century. Their clothes trapped them because they were so heavy. They weighed up to 25 pounds. And they couldn't get about. They were dependent on a man to either put them on a horse or put them in a carriage and take them there. The bicycle offered them a way of freedom.

How do you ride it? With great courage and dexterity, of which you are very capable. And how do you pedal wearing such cumbersome things? Carefully. [chuckles] Your turn. She who succeeds in gaining the mastery of the bicycle will gain the mastery of life. And the two things that must occupy your thoughts to the exclusion of everything else-- First, the goal. Indeed. And today's goal will be that plow. OK, then. The first is the goal and the second? The momentum requisite to reach it. Exactly. Don't look down. Aim directly for your goal. Look straight ahead, not at me!

Oh. [chuckling] ANNA GORDON: Oh! [clang] [laughter] Go home to your husband! It's the same as with all reforms. Sometimes they seem to lag, then they barely balance, and away they go again, as merrily as if they'd never been threatened to stop at all.

Ooh. Oh. We made it. [laughter] Hello. Hello, lovely to see you. HOST: The freedom of movement Frances Willard found on her bicycle helped her give her speech on time, a speech about another kind of freedom-- [cheering] --equal rights for women. And let them know the world was made for women too. [cheers, applause]