In a conservative society seeing a group of women revving on their motor cycles could be a bit intimidating.
When Iranian women see Behnaz
Shafiei dismount from her motorcycle and peel off her helmet, they stand
mesmerized.
“I did not know that it was a woman
riding until I noticed her hair,” Mahnaz Rahimi, a housewife, told The Associated Press. “It
took me by surprise that a woman can be so courageous. I don’t have the guts to
do such a thing.”
Armed with her vibrant yellow and
red motorcycle, 26-year-old Behnaz Shafiei is a force to be reckoned with. By
racing around and leaping over hurdles on her bike, the young Iranian rider is
breaking barriers in a notoriously conservative country where women are
actually banned from riding motorcycles in public. (Iran is, just now, partially opening up sports stadiums
to women.
Shafiei is one of six women making huge
cultural and legal strides for female motorcycle racers in Iran — and
women at large. They worked hard to receive official identifications that
allow them to race on amateur tracks. They can ride on off-road circuits, but
are still barred from competing or obtaining licenses. Access to
Iran’s sole standard motocross track in Tehran is prohibited, so in the
meantime, they roar their bikes outside the capital.
To stay up to date on Shafiei’s
push for gender equality, follow her on social media, where she’s active
on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, posting photos and and
videos of her on the track, including this jaw-dropping, slow-mo of her
flying over dirt hills.
“When two days pass and I do not
ride my motorcycle, I get really ill. Even the thought of not having a
motorcycle someday gives me an awful feeling … Sometimes, I think to myself,
‘How did people in the past live without a motorbike?’ Is life without a
motorcycle possible?” she remarked in an interview with The Associated Press.
Shafiei realized her passion for
motorcycles eleven years ago when, while on vacation with her family in Zanjan
province, she noticed a woman running errands on a small
motorbike, according to The Guardian.
“There was this young woman in a
village there who rode a 125cc urban motorbike to travel between houses, like
one used by the postman,” she told The Guardian. “I like that a lot and told
myself that I want to ride a motorbike too and in fact I learned how to ride a
motorcycle for the first time during my stay there.”
“My goal is to be a pioneer to
inspire other women,” Shafiei said in the AP interview. “Together, we can
convince authorities to recognize women’s motorcycle racing.”
Shafiei is just one of many
inspiring women in the Middle East and South Asia who have caught the
attention of Women in the World recently. For more stunning stories like hers,
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