Syria – Beating gender stereotype, Qamshili women create cycling team

Location: Qamshili, Syria

Language: Arabic + Kurdish

Duration: 00:07:17

Voice: Natural

Source: A24 News Agency

Restriction: A24 clients

Dateline: 08/3/2022

Storyline:

“Biddy Bascalate –] Arabic for “I want a bicycle [”, is the first girls’ cycling team created by a group of Qamishli women with the aim of encouraging girls to ride bicycles. The coach said that the main obstacle to their development is society’s rejection of their idea. So far, twelve young women have decided to fight against social norms and stereotypes towards women and joined the team. Some of the trainees on the team said that a number of their teammates left the team under pressure from their parents, who feared public opinion.

Shots list:

Soundbite (Media Ghanem – coach of the “Biddy Bascalate” team (Arabic for I want a bicycle):

“We started the campaign on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. In Amuda, we ran a marathon for our campaign “Biddy Bascalate” with the participation of 25 girls and announced the creation of our team. There are 12 young women on our team now. In order to benefit from this sport and to fight the gender stereotype, we seek to run marathon races in all regions of north and east Syria.”

Soundbite (Media Ghanem – coach of the “Biddy Bascalate” team (Arabic for I want a bicycle):

 “Initially, it was very difficult for us to do street cycling because we were bullied by society members, so we limited our activities indoors. Many families are afraid of society’s perspective on their daughters. This perspective will not change unless people are used to seeing girls fulfilling their daily needs using bikes.”

Soundbite (Iman Hawass – Trainee):

“I am not ashamed to ride a bike. My family supports me, but some of my teammates have left the team under the pressure of their families. I aim to participate in international marathons and races.”

Soundbite (Rodin Mohamed – Trainee):

“I always wanted to ride a bicycle. My family was always supportive, but we were bullied by society.”

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