Bicycle Search Engine Opens

Greetings:

Bicycles for Humanity, whose mission is to help empower women, children
and aids workers by providing them with bicycles, would like to invite
you to add your site to our new bike search engine!

Bicycles for Humanity's overall goal is to expand the work of its
members, build more sustainable initiatives and programs and to mobilise
and empower more of the world's poorest people.

Currently, we're supporting initiatives in Namibia by collecting used
bicycles, tools and parts and shipping them to those most in need.

Our website is located at http://www.bicycles-for-humanity.org

Our bike search engine is located at:
http://www.bicycles-for-humanity.org/portal

Regards, The Bicycles for Humanity Team.

Ryan Lanctot wrote:

Greetings:

Bicycles for Humanity, whose mission is to help empower women, children
and aids workers by providing them with bicycles, would like to invite
you to add your site to our new bike search engine!

If your organisation weren't so sexist, I'd be more inclined to assist.

Cheers,

Vince

Vincent Patrick wrote:
Ryan Lanctot wrote:

Greetings:

Bicycles for Humanity, whose mission is to help empower women, children
and aids workers by providing them with bicycles, would like to invite
you to add your site to our new bike search engine!

If your organisation weren't so sexist, I'd be more inclined to assist.

Cheers,

Vince

What? I would have thought you would add some explanation for a slag
like that.
Been doing a lot for others, lately, Vince?

Donga

In aus.bicycle on 3 Nov 2006 19:05:47 -0800
Donga wrote:

Vincent Patrick wrote:
Ryan Lanctot wrote:

Greetings:

Bicycles for Humanity, whose mission is to help empower women, children
and aids workers by providing them with bicycles, would like to invite
you to add your site to our new bike search engine!

If your organisation weren't so sexist, I'd be more inclined to assist.

What? I would have thought you would add some explanation for a slag
like that.

The ad could have been better worded I suppose, but I bet that the
people who need the bikes most *are* women (who in Africa tend to do
the most travelling as they are responsible for getting water and most
of the food), children who have to travel a long way to school, and aid
workers (especially health workers) who also have to travel a long way.
Men who have jobs need them too, but they also have money. And as far as
I know they don't travel as much, the jobs are local or they move to them.

I believe the same generalities are true in most 3rd world countries.


Zebee

Donga wrote:

Vincent Patrick wrote:
Ryan Lanctot wrote:

Greetings:

Bicycles for Humanity, whose mission is to help empower women, children
and aids workers by providing them with bicycles, would like to invite
you to add your site to our new bike search engine!

If your organisation weren't so sexist, I'd be more inclined to assist.

Cheers,

Vince

What? I would have thought you would add some explanation for a slag
like that.

It is hardly a "slag" to point out organisational sexism. Since you asked,
here is my explanation. When Ryan wrote "Bicycles for Humanity, whose
mission is to help empower women, children and aids workers by providing
them with bicycles..." it was quite obvious to me that his organisation was
purposefully missing out on a good chunk of humanity based on their sex.

You might endorse that type of sexism, and if so, fell free to go ahead and
donate a bike or two.

I hope that clarifies things.

Cheers,

Vince

Zebee Johnstone wrote:

In aus.bicycle on 3 Nov 2006 19:05:47 -0800
Donga wrote:

Vincent Patrick wrote:
Ryan Lanctot wrote:

Greetings:

Bicycles for Humanity, whose mission is to help empower women,
children and aids workers by providing them with bicycles, would like
to invite you to add your site to our new bike search engine!

If your organisation weren't so sexist, I'd be more inclined to assist.

What? I would have thought you would add some explanation for a slag
like that.

The ad could have been better worded I suppose, but I bet that the
people who need the bikes most *are* women (who in Africa tend to do
the most travelling as they are responsible for getting water and most
of the food), children who have to travel a long way to school, and aid
workers (especially health workers) who also have to travel a long way.
Men who have jobs need them too, but they also have money. And as far as
I know they don't travel as much, the jobs are local or they move to them.

I believe the same generalities are true in most 3rd world countries.


Zebee

Thanks Zebee. I agree it is fine if most of the bikes are used by those men
or women who would actually use/need them. I just didn't agree with the
sexism imposed by the organisation.

Cheers,

Vince

Vincent Patrick wrote:


Thanks Zebee. I agree it is fine if most of the bikes are used by those men
or women who would actually use/need them. I just didn't agree with the
sexism imposed by the organisation.

The Grabeen Bank(?) targetted women for a particular reason, because it
would have the most effect on villages. They have been proven correct.

You need to understand the dominant local culture and make small steps.
Let the locals make the other changes.

Vincent Patrick wrote:

It is hardly a "slag" to point out organisational sexism. Since you asked,
here is my explanation. When Ryan wrote "Bicycles for Humanity, whose
mission is to help empower women, children and aids workers by providing
them with bicycles..." it was quite obvious to me that his organisation was
purposefully missing out on a good chunk of humanity based on their sex.

You might endorse that type of sexism, and if so, fell free to go ahead and
donate a bike or two.

It is for a reason. You might like to research what goes on it the real
world. It isn't all National Geographic sterotypical villages.

Giving a woman a bicycle to cart the water for the whole family and then
here other tasks is going to achive more than giving a bicycle to a man
to ride to work and having it not doing anything except for the ride
home. children also work from an early age.


Frankly, the number of bicycles they have is probably a drop in the
ocean and if they have to prioritise who gets them, then that is the
best thing to do.

Terryc wrote:

Vincent Patrick wrote:

It is hardly a "slag" to point out organisational sexism. Since you
asked,
here is my explanation. When Ryan wrote "Bicycles for Humanity, whose
mission is to help empower women, children and aids workers by providing
them with bicycles..." it was quite obvious to me that his organisation
was purposefully missing out on a good chunk of humanity based on their
sex.

You might endorse that type of sexism, and if so, fell free to go ahead
and donate a bike or two.

It is for a reason. You might like to research what goes on it the real
world. It isn't all National Geographic sterotypical villages.

Giving a woman a bicycle to cart the water for the whole family and then
here other tasks is going to achive more than giving a bicycle to a man
to ride to work and having it not doing anything except for the ride
home. children also work from an early age.

Frankly, the number of bicycles they have is probably a drop in the
ocean and if they have to prioritise who gets them, then that is the
best thing to do.

It is probably true that you or I don't have a really clear idea of the
final destinations. But that is hardly an excuse for the organisational
sexism in the original posting.

Terry, it seems to me that you have given a good reason to offer the bikes
to those who would use them most, irrespective of their sex. Not all women
will make more use of bicycles than some men. For all we know, it may even
be that the men would find bikes more useful than the women would. After
all, this would be the finding in most other countries.

Irrespective of whether men or women have a greater potential need, there
will be an overlap. Therefore it makes sense to me to offer the bicycles
based on need rather than an individual's sex. If they have to prioritise
and they choose to refuse access to men, then the usefulness of their
distributed bicycles is likely to be reduced.

Cheers,

Vince

Terryc wrote:

Vincent Patrick wrote:


Thanks Zebee. I agree it is fine if most of the bikes are used by those
men
or women who would actually use/need them. I just didn't agree with the
sexism imposed by the organisation.

The Grabeen Bank(?) targetted women for a particular reason, because it
would have the most effect on villages. They have been proven correct.

You need to understand the dominant local culture and make small steps.
Let the locals make the other changes.

My understanding is that the Grameen Bank doesn't exclude men, but targets
those who are very poor and cannot get finance ('microfinance') for
otherwise viable small businesses, including dad-and-mum businesses, etc.

And yes, we should let the local people make decisions, rather than try to
push western ideologies.

Cheers,

Vince

'This thread is cycling off into the distance...'