ABOUT GEARING UP!
Gearing Up! helps women+ build meaningful connections with mountain biking, sparking a lifelong passion - and unlocking significant business potential through sustained engagement and investment in the sport.
Gearing Up! is for marketing and media professionals in the mountain biking industry who are looking for ways to pursue a gender-progressive representational strategy in their organisations. This means using marketing and media to shape the culture of mountain biking so is more inclusive, welcoming and open to all genders.
The Gearing Up! framework and supporting workbook offers four ‘gears’ that will guide you towards embedding gender-progressive strategy in your work.
Our aim is for marketing and media to shape the culture of mountain biking so it is more inclusive, welcoming and open to all genders.
LET’S GET STARTED
Let’s get started. Work your way through the workbook, either in order or by jumping around to the parts that are most relevant and useful. It is important that you are aware that the commitment to Gearing Up! may be substantial. You will need to build in time to read, reflect, take part in the activities, seek outside support and think about the progress you are making.
We recommend blocking out time for your meetings and building in time between gears to reflect and engage with the process. Rushing the process will not get the results you want and risks leading to tokenistic changes.
In the workbook we refer to women+ to denote that we are referring to women and marginalised genders.
OUR RESEARCH
Gearing Up! is one of the outputs from Project FIAS (Fostering Inclusive Action Sports), a funded research and impact project based at the University of Bristol that focuses on rigorous research, analysis and engagement to understand and address gender inequality in action sports, specialising in mountain biking. We have a blog, Linked In, Instagram and a website if you’d like to find out more about FIAS and get in touch.
For Gearing Up! we have drawn on research from industry reports, brands, academic research that is published in peer-reviewed journals, and our own FIAS research (published here). We have also drawn on research from Turning the Cogs, an independent research project investigating the barriers and friction points underrepresented riders experience at cycling events all over the world.
Why do we need Gearing Up!
One of the other main reasons that mountain biking continues to be dominated by men, and is perceived as ‘off the radar’ for so many women+ and girls, is because of its image. Although significant inroads are being made, particularly in terms of women-led media, social media, events, festivals and brands, our FIAS research participants used phrases like ‘masculine’, ‘macho’, ‘intimidating’ and ‘bro’ when we asked them what mountain biking could be like. Women+ described feeling on edge, uncomfortable and painfully aware they are participating in a ‘male’ sport. Mountain bike media and marketing have an opportunity to engage more deeply and demonstrate that mountain biking is a place they belong.
Numerous people working in marketing and media recognise they have a role to play in creating a mountain biking ‘world’ that women+ know is for them.
Gearing Up! is designed to help the catalysts drive change in the representation of women+ in mountain biking because of the vital role this plays in fostering an inclusive, welcoming and open culture. This toolkit is therefore for anyone working in mountain biking marketing or media, from brand owners and managers to copy editors, journalists and reviewers.
The business opportunity
Understanding how to help women+ connect with mountain biking represents an unmissable business opportunity. When people connect with a lifestyle sport on a deep, long-lasting level, this of course means they will spend a lifetime investing in their participation:
Around a third of women+ who mountain bike are well off and have money to spend.
Women+ are keen to spend on new kit, including bikes, for their mountain biking, perhaps even more so than men. E-bikes represent a huge opportunity for the women’s market.
Women+ are spending money on experiences and events rather than in retail, demonstrating they have cash to spend but are drawn to events and services not products. Women+ represent only 15-20% of retail sales but up to 40% of mtb holiday customers.
63% of women+ want to do more events. Numerous women+-only off road cycling events, or those with strict quotas for 50% women+, have sold out.
Women+ mountain bikers are avid consumers of media and contributors to social media. They hunt out relevant women+-led content, contribute their own stories and connect with others. Particularly, women+’s use of social media has given rise to an increase in thriving women+-only and women-led communities of mountain bikers.
Sources available on request.
Understanding women+’s experiences and transforming the representation of mountain biking to be more inclusive is great for business.