Pedal power inspires Iraqi women

Baghdad bike brigade helping participants rediscover rights

Her name is Marina Jaber but to many she is "the girl on the bike", a young Baghdad artist inspiring Iraqi women to exercise their rights one pedal at a time.

In Iraq's conservative society, the young woman cuts an unusual figure when she rides her red bicycle in the streets of the capital, her long black hair swaying in the wind.

What started off as an art project became a social media meme and then a civil society movement. A group of women now gathers regularly to cycle in Baghdad and break new ground.

Or is it old ground?

"My mother and my grandmother used to ride bicycles. It used to be normal," Jaber said.

She said she questioned why she felt so proud when she rode a bike during a visit to London last year.

"It's only a bike. It's a simple thing. It should be normal," said the 25-year-old.

"Does society just not allow us to do certain things or does it start not accepting those certain things because we stopped doing them? That was an important question that had been on my mind."

To find the answer, Jaber started cycling in her neighborhood and made it a project for a contemporary arts institute called Tarkib - an Arabic word that can mean "installation" or "assemblage."

'I am society'

A picture Jaber posted of herself cycling alongside an old man riding his own bicycle and staring at her in reproving disbelief made the rounds on Iraqi social media last year.

"With that old man, I found my answer. For more than five minutes, I was riding next to him and he kept looking at me. He didn't seem to like it," Jaber said.

"Then he stopped looking and went about his business. All the people in the area got used to it, they stopped looking at me. ... I understood then that I am society. If I want something, I should start doing it."

Jaber instantly became an inspiration for many girls and women across the country yearning to lead their lives the way they choose and not bow to more or less recent social, tribal or religious restrictions.

Hashtags started spreading on the internet and Jaber was overwhelmed by the response.

"I received a lot of messages ... mostly from young girls. Maybe they needed somebody to stand up for their rights," she said.

Her red bicycle became the centerpiece of her installation at an exhibit in Baghdad last year and Jaber's action joined a long global history of cycling as a symbol of women's emancipation.

In Iraq, women from across the country started posting pictures of themselves on bicycles and dozens have joined group bike rides in the streets of Baghdad, which are closed off to traffic by police officers who escort the cyclists.

"It's not illegal for a woman to cycle in Iraq but because of the war we Iraqis stopped doing a lot of things we used to do. We are too busy with death," Jaber said.

Men are also welcome when Jaber's group organizes a ride.

"It's liberating for a man too. Everyone looks so happy, the city even looks more beautiful like this," said Mustafa Ahmed, a young army officer, at a recent rally.

"It feels like the normal life we all want."