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Aware that bicycles can offer increased mobility and access to social and economic opportunities to women, South Africa's national government is aiming to deliver 1 million bicycles throughout South Africa by 2015, mostly to women, health workers and learners. The program is called "Shova Kalula," which means "Pedal Easy" in Zulu.

"South Africa is a culture with no respect for life," Vanderschuren said. In this environment, women may view cycling as too dangerous: "Women are the ones with obligations to care for children and family but are afraid for their lives when they're vulnerable road users. In South Africa cycling is a high-risk activity, and women traditionally take fewer risks."

"A bicycle is right for me. ... On a bike I can always do things in my own time," said Juanita Maguni, who cycles to work in the suburb of Manenberg. Still, while "It's easy to cycle, it's ... difficult to ignore people's comments about a woman on a bike. ... I have to muster my courage to ride."

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CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Dec. 16, 2007 (IPS/GIN) -- The South African government is seeking to empower women by offering bicycles to them, but traditionalist attitudes in some areas are making it difficult for the women to pedal freely.

Susan B. Anthony, a 19th-century American feminist, hailed the bicycle as having done "more than anything else in the world to emancipate women."

Aware that bicycles can offer increased mobility and access to social and economic opportunities to women, South Africa's national government is aiming to deliver 1 million bicycles throughout South Africa by 2015, mostly to women, health workers and learners. The program is called "Shova Kalula," which means "Pedal Easy" in Zulu.

Until cultural change gathers momentum alongside the provision of bicycles, however, traditionalist views will continue to trip up the national effort.

"Most people think that cycling is for children, and definitely not for African women -- especially married ones," said Myolisi Njoli of Luvo Bicycles, a nongovernmental group that manages a program in the Western Cape Province called Women in Cycling on behalf of the provincial government.

Marianne Vanderschuren of the Center for Transport Studies at the University of Cape Town, and Africa convener for the Cycling Academic Network, has come across similar views in her research: fears that cycling makes a woman seem undignified or unfeminine. The network is a collaboration involving academics in Brazil, India, Holland and South Africa.

Meshack Nchupetsang, one of the directors of the Bicycling Empowerment Network who is also in the coastal city of Cape Town, said: "It is a challenge to liberate women and get them onto bikes. We live in a century when women are our partners, and bikes offer a way to improve our socioeconomic status, but even when women feel free enough to ride, there are these issues of safety."

According to the latest statistics from the International Road Federation, South Africa has the world's highest death toll on the roads. The federation is a nonprofit organization based in Brussels. In addition, a conference paper by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, a government-funded organization in South Africa, indicated that 40 percent to 45 percent of accident victims use non-motorized transport.

"South Africa is a culture with no respect for life," Vanderschuren said. In this environment, women may view cycling as too dangerous: "Women are the ones with obligations to care for children and family but are afraid for their lives when they're vulnerable road users. In South Africa cycling is a high-risk activity, and women traditionally take fewer risks."

There is also the issue of status: "To get respect in this country, you are supposed to drive or be in a car," Vanderschuren said.

Women in Cycling is making a determined effort to ensure that women on bikes become less of an exception to the rule, however.

A group of 20 women in the low-income settlement of Khayelitsha, Cape Town, recently graduated from the program, which has been underway for three years. Wearing black cycling shorts, T-shirts and helmets, they look somewhat out of place in an area where women usually walk or cram into public transport. The graduates all received certificates in road safety, cycling skills and bicycle maintenance.

"These women have seen the benefits that riding a bike can bring, and they will not take 'no' for an answer," Njoli said. Approximately 200 women have received training under the initiative.

Bicycles are particularly suited to women's travel patterns, Vanderschuren said. This is because women often make more and shorter trips to a variety of destinations during off-peak commuter times, as they juggle work, child care and household responsibilities.

In addition, bicycles offer freedom from the schedules of public transport -- timetables that are sometimes confining for women who need flexibility when allocating their time.

"A bicycle is right for me. ... On a bike I can always do things in my own time," said Juanita Maguni, who cycles to work in the suburb of Manenberg. Still, while "It's easy to cycle, it's ... difficult to ignore people's comments about a woman on a bike. ... I have to muster my courage to ride."

In a country where women frequently shoulder the burden of poverty, bicycles can also prove cost-efficient. They are faster, cheaper and more efficient than motorized transport over distances of 5-20 kilometers.

Secondhand bicycles -- imported by the Bicycling Empowerment Network through partnerships with Dutch and German nongovernmental organizations -- can cost about $30, which is no small amount for many households. In certain instances they cost the equivalent of two month's minibus taxi fare. According to the latest United Nations Human Development Report, about a third of people in the country live on less than $2 a day.

Still, said Rufus Norexe, a bicycle mechanic who works with the Bicycling Empowerment Network and lives in the informal area of Westlake, once your bike is paid for, it's paid for.

According to the most recent South African National Household Travel Survey, which was taken in 2003, on average, commuters who earn less than $75 a month and take public transport spend more than a third of that income on transport. More than 80 percent spend more than 20 percent of their income on transport.

The Bicycling Empowerment Network also distributes new and refurbished bikes to health workers and pupils, both for its own programs and on behalf of the national Department of Transport, as well as for Access Africa, a program of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. This lobby group is based in New York.

"There is a strong correlation between poverty and urban mobility," said Aimee Gauthier of Access Africa.

"Poverty complicates mobility and lack of transport options complicates poverty," she added. "Transport costs put a lot of financial pressure on households where financial pressures already exist."

When asked about the number of women who inquire about purchasing bicycles, Norexe said: "It's so difficult. People from rural areas, they are holding on to their traditions. And although my wife cycles in Cape Town and wears trousers, she can't do this on my father's premises."

(* This story is part of a series of features on sustainable development by IPS and IFEJ -- the International Federation of Environmental Journalists.)