The fact - A presumption has been made about someone's ability based on a protected characteristic
One day, we got this direct message in our inbox👇
“Hello - I attended your workshop, “How to Dismantle the Patriarchy, One Group Ride at a Time” a few months ago and obviously follow you here - I wonder if you mind me asking your advice on something...
Recently a female club member told a committee member that she had been contacted by a male ride leader and told that his ride would be too fast for her.
There were slower men signed up that he did not contact. The woman was upset, left the ride and told a couple of members about the incident as well as the committee member.
The club welfare officer stepped in and decided to contact the woman to investigate the incident. He reported back to the committee that there had been no issue, the message was not malicious and the woman felt fine about it. The ride leader was not contacted.
I just wonder if this was the right way to go and I wonder if you wouldn't mind offering some advice - if you don't have time I totally understand.
My main worries are that if the woman was upset then this is clearly a de-escalation off the back of our welfare officer contacting her. He did offer her the chance to speak to a woman about it, but I'm never sure how real a choice that is. And I feel that there was little to be gained from investigating her first. Had we simply asked him what his thought processes were we would have quickly found out. As it stands he is unaware of the upset he caused and the woman feels potentially that injustice lives on.
I want to be careful not to overreact here and not to take something again against the woman's wishes, but it just somehow doesn't sit right.”
We replied with this 👇
“Firstly, HUGE thank you for getting in touch. It gives me hope that people are out there, in traditional clubs, challenging behaviours that serve to keep cycling in groups exclusive and limiting.
Genuine, my heart breaks for the woman involved. Having someone doubt your ability has long lasting implications. I can't stress that enough, I know people who are committed to never coming on a NFORC group ride as their one and only experience riding in a group resulted in them being dropped and they refuse to let themselves be put in the same position again, which is totally understandable.
I have written some thoughts below. Please let me know what you think.
I've kept the tone quite light and essentially suggested a list of q's a committee could go through to establish the right course of action. I don't believe in prescriptive approaches and have eternal optimism that as humans, without policies and rules, we can work out the right thing to do.
That said, if a community or club has gone to the effort of implementing structures like committees and welfare officers; the least you can expect is for those people to deal with situations effectively & professionally, at least in line with government legislation and ethical charters. Otherwise, what’s the point?”
The fact - A presumption has been made about someone's ability based on a protected characteristic.
Questions to ask of the ‘committee’
Does this behaviour fit with the communities guiding mission, values and principles*? A community's guiding principles, mission and values should serve to be a guiding compass in moments like this. Refer to them and edit as necessary.
Do you want to see more diversity in your community? If yes, recognise that there is real, practical work that needs to be done. That work can start here and now.
What blind spots exist for the people dealing with the situation? Do they have any lived experience that mirrors the situation? If no, then recognise that a wider consultation would need to take place before a situation is deemed ‘resolved’.
What could be the long term repercussions of this situation should it not be handled appropriately? This is risk management.
How long will this experience live on in the person's memory or impact their confidence? It is essential to consider the wider, long term repercussions on the individual and to consider retributions accordingly.
*If your club doesn’t have a mission, values or principles, then you can come to our online workshop.
An important note, it does not have to be only the individual directly involved who raises a complaint. We are all responsible for calling in and calling out behaviour that is sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic*.
Next steps
Be vocal about the learnings and share with the community. In this instance, this could look like the following.
“On x date, a female club member had the following experience…….. We acknowledge that this was wrong because…..We are doing x and x internally to prevent future situations.”
Final statement should include a commitment and asking the community to continue holding the senior decision makers accountable.
We also asked a HR Director to share their thoughts on the situation and what would be the course of action if this happened in a professional environment.
Notes from a HR Director
Male ride leader: Totally unacceptable, why would they think this is ok to say this to anyone, regardless of gender?
Have they had feedback or been asked about the incident? What did they say etc?
How did they contact? What exactly did they say?
Female club member: Great, they felt they could raise it to committee member and other members.
Club welfare officer: Positive that they wanted to investigate, but who did they investigate with? Did they speak to the female club member and the male club member? If not, why not? If they did and the female club member said they were fine, they may have felt they were at that point, or may not want to go over it again having already told a committee member etc.
Thoughts & Recommendations
The male ride leader needs feedback and potentially investigated about the situ?
Why do they think this was acceptable etc?
Perhaps some diversity and equal ops training (there are free courses online) for the male rider leader, and others that could benefit
If there are different levels between people (not genders or any other protected characteristic) then perhaps stating the distance/duration of ride and confirming a level e.g. basic/beginner/steady/endurance etc when putting on races and people can choose to attend when they feel comfortable.
The male rider may have said the same to others based on their ability, not necessarily gender, and may say was nothing to do with them being female, however I would recommend a zero tolerance to this type of behaviour of someone telling someone else the ride would be too fast for them.
Offering alternative levels
Perhaps even Male rides and female rides if they feel the need, but this should not be based on an ability level, but
Also have a contingency plan if someone was not keeping up or wanted to leave the ride earlier, e.g. multiple guides?
Does this club have any complaints procedure, or bullying or harassment policies in place? Or even guidance? Whilst I doubt that would be expected or required, it may be worth considering some best practice and inclusive guidance, and a chain of command if or when things go wrong and how they will be investigated and resolved. It needs to be a safe space for everyone!
Ultimately if this happened in the workplace it could be deemed as direct sex discrimination and harassment (amongst other things) and could be a fairly high risk situation if an employer did not handle appropriately.
We wanted to share this message exchange publicly in the hope that it might help other people navigate similar situations in their community.
Take it easy out there, be kind to each other and for gods sake, don’t make assumptions about someone's technical ability or stamina based on their gender, FFS.
A small footnote from the chap who originally got in touch…. ”This has all be so thorough and helpful, thank you for taking the time to reply. The questions I feel are incredibly useful because they are not confrontational but they encourage people to consider actions and consequences, and feelings, positively. Question 5 about the lived experience of those involved is very powerful I think….”
