I learned how to bike as a little girl. My story as a cyclist has its share of funny memories. I remember my blue bell bottom pants (yun ang uso noong 70s) getting stuck on the chain of my bike, and crashing downhill into a dingy canal along Maayusin St in UP Village where our family used to live. I also can't forget that I lent my new red bike to my best friend then and it got stolen. How my parents scolded me. (especially because my friend did not replace it.)

Today, three decades after, I consider myself a hard core cyclist. I use my bike when I travel to work. The bicycle as a mode of transport is a far out idea for many middle class people. It is also especially uncommon for women in the Philippines. However, riding the bicycle as a mode of transport is a best economic option for many people.

A woman riding a bicycle on the street sticks out like a sore thumb. "Ay babae," I hear people say when I pass. " Babae, o," others stare with a look of bewilderment on their faces. As one venture into the streets, one will very seldom see women on bicycles. This is confirmed by a 1999 study which showed that out of 174 cyclists who were interviewed on the road in four different places in Marikina City, only 9 were women.

It's no doubt that many people in Filipino society still believe that a woman's place is only in the home or in the private sphere. Getting on a bike means venturing into the public sphere - the outdoors that is believed to be mainly men's preserve. Not to be forgotten is the harassment women face when they are on the street. It's not enough that you're the underdog as a cyclist on the streets against the road rage of motor vehicle drivers. Women get a lot of sexist remarks from men as they pass on a bike.

Society, through its ordinary and taken-for-granted beliefs, limit women's mobility. Too bad that girls are taught by their parents to be " mahinhin" (soft/slow) and "mabango," (sweet smelling) which is in direct contradiction to getting on a bike- one has to be "malakas ang loob" (assertive) and going under the sun will surely leave you " amoy araw." (smelling like the sun) Time to change our ways with little girls!

Another wrong but very common belief is that rigorous physical activity is also not the proper thing for girls and young women; and that physical activity, specially strenuous activities like biking on the streets, is for boys alone. (As if women do not do most if not all of the dirty housework at home!) In our country, a young girl active in strenuous physical activity is not "ordinary". We should open our eyes to the fact that both male and female are capable!

In many Asian countries, men and women use the bicycle as transport. China is the best example of a country where a bicycle culture is historically deeply rooted. My friend Jo who spent time in India said that she witnessed how many schoolgirls in their sari (Indian traditional costume) ride the bicycle to and fro their homes and school. A lot of women also use their bicycles in Vietnam and the streets are flooded with women ferrying goods from the market. In Africa, there are non-profit groups that use the bicycle as an entry point for literacy programs for women. Here in the Philippines, my friend Letty who lives in Binangonan tells me how she used to bike to market in Binangonan. (It's too unsafe to do this now, she says. But then, what is safe in this country?) Filipino women can get their inspiration from experiences in various parts of the world.

Cycling and women are not incompatible, as most Filipinos still feel and believe. The challenge is to create an environment for the safety of cyclists- both men and women, girls and boys. Even more urgent is to work for a cultural and economic environment that encourages more people, especially women, to get on bicycles.