History Talk: Sexism in cycling

The lingering legacy of sexism in Australian sport c. 1860s to 2020s by Dr Marc Sebastian Rerceretnam.

​Female cycle racing had an unusually early start in Australia. Despite Europe being at cycling’s cultural and technological epicentre, Australia can currently boast of holding the earliest ‘professional’ all-women’s cycle race. Notwithstanding its early inception, there were major cultural and political attitudes and obstacles, imposed on women cycling activity and sport, by what appears to be, largely sexist, male-dominated governing sport cycling bodies, beginning in the 1860s and continuing well into the present-day.

This study will examine this regrettable history and how it culminated in the sporting code’s castigation of Margaret McLachlan from the 1960s. A legacy of neglect which was never recognised or resolved and continues to be an insurmountable issue in 2024.