Zwift’s platform offers unprecedented opportunities, particularly for women. Where else can you ride a race against only women, in fields where you can’t count the entrants using your fingers and toes? Zwift lets you slough off the limitations of in-real-life racing and push yourself like never before.
Beccah is an unwitting SAHM to two boys in California who found her way back to herself through racing on Zwift with her teammates on The Coalition. She hopes to help more women find themselves again through racing on Zwift.
Love this! Thank you to all those who contributed!!
Ali Kimber
2 years ago
Fantastic to see this (and about time hehe. Better late than never so thank you!). Women’s racing on zwift is empowering and uplifting. I race with NZBRO here in NZ and our ‘wāhine toa /strong women. Zwift has a fantastic women’s community across clubs, races and grades. We shouldn’t be compared to men. Or aspire to race like a ‘man’ we are our own super power. And love that we are now highlighting women’s races and athletes here. Keep up the amazing work and let’s keep championing our female athletes! Kia kaha wāhine toa!
This is awesome Ali! Do you want us to upload this as the NZBRO team description? If so, could you please send a link to join? If you’d like to join the women’s server we developed to think through how to support and encourage more women racing, please let me know and we can send you the discord link.
female racer
2 years ago
With racers like Kulchinsky and Guerrera, uals mere mortals are annihilated and the elite racers should allow a fair chance in womens only races. At least racing against men is far more fun.
Veronica
2 years ago
This is fantastic! I want to show this to every woman I know! Just what we need to get more ladies into our exciting and encouraging world of Zwift. Thank you! ❤️
Emma
2 years ago
Hi – how do we go about getting the Women’s only Wednesday Chaingang event and broadcast on here? Thx
I loved that event Emma! If the event starts up again we can definitely include links to channels that broadcast (like YouTube), if they get commentary back.
Up and running at the moment 6.15pm gmt on a Wednesday- live broadcast on the Full Speed Events You Tube channel – just let me know what you need – thx
Can you email me at [email protected] and we can get a link to a prior race as well as a description of the series, and add it to both the race calendar and the streams?
Annie
2 years ago
Did Zwift Insider hire a writer from the Onion? Did we just lose 30 years of progress in women’s equality? Let’s ask ourselves why there are really so few women racers. We don’t need a website, we need to correct the very imbalanced domestic labor sharing in heterosexual relationships, especially once kids are in the mix. Because racing at 9pm after the kids go to bed is exactly what women want🙄
This assumes Zwift is able to fix the imbalances in the male-female relationship without a website as such to provide discourse, community and a place to mitigate those effects. Large social change many times happens in smaller communities of dedicated individuals. I see your concerns and agree there are imbalances. However, it is more than just that. I suggest reading Sapiens by Noval Harari to get a better understanding of how this imbalance evolved in humans and not other species. Also note: the female-athlete paradox, and psychological consequences for women as opposed to men (i.e. community versus opponents). Finally, cycling as a male dominated sport… we may not be able to change the larger social issue, but can make strides in other areas.
Knowing this, I ask, how would you propose changes in the cycling community in other areas outside of a website such as this to make those changes? Do you think those changes may be produced via discourse on a website such as this? What would those changes look like?
I think the creators of this website are doing a great thing. But if the goal is more women-only events, I think a more wholistic approach is needed, besides recruiting the women already on Zwift into racing. Yes, a website is absolutely a great place to discuss what else I believe needs to be done, and I’m glad we have the opportunity to do so, and that you’re asking questions.
I definitely don’t think this website will “fix” social issues. But I do think journalism is a powerful tool, and I saw an opportunity to acknowledge the disparity between men and women on Zwift, because I think it’s a hurdle to achieving what this website is after. Bringing light to the ‘why’ of the gender imbalance on Zwift is a way to make a small difference in our little corner of the internet. Before we go championing that women can ‘race like men,’ without responsibilities or limitations, let’s ask ourselves if the numbers indicate that’s actually the case.
I appreciate you asking my ideas on changes that we can make. I’d be happy to hear your (or anyone else’s) ideas as well. Or follow up on any of my own ideas.
-Give this women’s page more visibility: Put it on the homepage of Zwift Insider, rather than under ‘Getting Started.’
-Change Zwift’s category enforcement system: Make mixed racing more equitable to women. I think for the time being, mixed racing is going to be the stepping stone before we get enough all-women’s races to have a choice. For me personally, Zwift’s category enforcement has BY FAR been the biggest thing stopping me from doing mixed races. I’ve spent the past 4+ years of Zwift racing flip-flopping between a mixed A and B cat racer, and when I’m forced to race A, I get blown off the back (sometimes within the first minute of the race). I can’t emphasize enough how much better the experience of racing as a B has been. I could care less about what place I get, I just want to be IN the race. I’ve also had very good race experiences in events that use alternate ranking systems (like FRR which uses Velo ranking, or WTRL’s Autocat system) because I felt like I was always placed in an appropriate race group. Kudos to those event organizers for seeing a need to use a category system besides Zwift’s, so let’s get more of that.
-Create inclusive environments in group rides: encourage ride leaders to engage with women in their group rides. For instance, if your ride has a segment effort, mini-race, or after party, make a point to commend the efforts by women.
-Raise awareness to all the men on Zwift: let’s collaborate and talk about what men can do. Ask yourselves, do you have a partner you could help get on Zwift? If she already Zwifts, is there a way you could elevate her experience? If you are a father, can you use the implications of the under-representation of women on Zwift to guide the ideals or notions with which you empower your daughter, or responsibilities you teach to your son?
Each to their own opinion here but I want to give my own experience of Zwift racing as a woman in a relationship with three kids. I joined Zwift while pregnant with my second son, first off running, then got a trainer for cycling too. I immediately loved the female camaraderie element and would search out women-only rides, races etc. It was only by sheer luck that someone messaged me after a ride, by then about a year into my journey, and asked if I wanted to join Team Fearless (a great woman’s group on Zwift for racing and riding) – how I wish there was a website like this that could have got me into a team faster, or at least know who to contact. Struggling through post-natal anxiety with both my 2nd and 3rd children I am not overstating that riding and racing with my team was a life-saver.
I just don’t understand what your comment here is trying to achieve? Racing or riding when the kids go to bed is actually exactly what I want, I can be there for my family and then can also feel empowered and strong by physically pushing myself. During extremely isolating times of being at home with a newborn I could Zwift race during nap-times and have connection with my race team, who I now consider close friends.
I can’t answer why there are fewer female racers… but I can tell you that the team that put this website together is trying damn hard to get more women involved and I applaud them for that.
Why is that women are expected to put the women to bed though?
Also, why do we have to “race like men”?
I have such mixed feelings about this whole post. While I appreciate a place for women to actually see women do race, I’m so disappointed that I, as the woman, am expected to put my three kids to bed, and my husband can’t do that same thing? I already grew these things from head to toe, can I get a break from these expectations please??
I agree with Annie whole heartedly. This is sooooooo poorly worded but with good intentions. As a mom, I’m just disappointed. Can this be written by a woman’s perspective please? You know what, does he have any women who write ANYTHING come to think of it?
The intro text on this page was actually written by a woman (Beccah Niesen, who headed up this project). I just put the overall page together, hence me showing as the author (so I can understand the confusion).
To answer your other question: yes, we’ve had women contributors to the site.
The wording of the intro reinforces gender stereotypes that I think need to be challenged. If the goal is to get a critical mass of women racers so that there can be a calendar full of women’s events that accommodate all abilities and time zones, I think there’s an opportunity to talk about what I see as a hurdle to getting there – social issues impeding women.
When we look at the skew of male to female racers, it’s very indicative that something much more fundamental is going on. Because the convenience of Zwift is nothing new – the opportunity to get on Zwift as it fits your schedule is true for anyone – male or female. If the convenience factor is universal, then why aren’t there more women on Zwift?
I 100% agree with you that the friendships, camaraderie, and support we get from being on a Zwift team are very important! I want to have a website to connect women so more of us can have the privilege of sharing our experiences with other women. It’s just that the way it was presented felt kind of condescending, like we’re trying to chase some gold standard that men set…
Hi @Annie Poland and Angie – I think maybe you aren’t reading in the sarcasm I intended. The numbers of women racing IRL after having children drops significantly – I wish it wasn’t this way, but it is. Whether or not you’re putting your children to bed, many women feel they don’t have time to “themselves” until after the kids are in bed. And my comment about racing like men was certainly not to compliment men’s/mixed racers, but to point out that the numbers of men racing IRL and on virtual platforms does not experience the same precipitous decrease – men continue to race whether the laundry is done, the dishes are done, the kids are asleep.
To be clear, I don’t hold myself out as a writer, and didn’t intend to. I wanted to point out that women may feel hesitant to race because they don’t feel they have time with the other commitments in their lives, as caretakers or otherwise, and to give those women small ways to mitigate what they see as limitations and to boost their confidence. If you’d like to discuss social change, I’d be happy to in a different forum, but this forum is intended to build women up by giving them specific tools to bolster confidence and reinforce that which we may have in common.
Personally I find that the language of the website at best misses the mark. I understand the positive intentions, but this really, really irked me and yes, made me feel like we just lost 30 years of progress:
“In short, women can slough off the limitations of in-real-life racing to push themselves like they don’t have any other responsibilities. To race like men already do, like they have no other responsibilities.”
Rather than reinforcing an out-of-date status quo under the guise of empowerment, let’s have real conversation around gender parity in parenting responsibilities and gender equality in cycling. When I first read it, I thought this was a parody or a joke.
Zwift, you’re a leader in the industry for championing women’s equality in the sport. Please do better. (And have your marketing collateral written by an actual woman)
In reality we have this backlash! Look at politics, look at actual gender stereotypes, book bans …
All we thought we’d overcome in the 70/80th is a threat for modern women. So I think we have to empower ourselves (sure with help of allies) more and more, have to be visible in Sports – and I like the women’s community on Zwift.
Renee Anseeuw
2 years ago
Cool to see this page, thanks!
Jillian Howland (McGee)
2 years ago
This has been a long time coming—thank you so much to Eric for creating space for us to stretch our wings. ‘Tis the first step, toward solo flight, right?
I am inquisitively optimistic for the progression of recognition this sport has to offer so many women, all over the world—not only for our elite athletes, but also for our everyday, movement enthusiastic women who are makes strides of change across all industries, and in the home. Hats and helmets to the crew making this possible!
Tammy
2 years ago
Will there be suitable times for the Aussie girls.. we have been missing out on a lot of ladies racing.
Thank you, I’ve just been to the Discord channel and wow, there’s a lot going on there.. I have to be honest, after being there for 15 minutes, trying to look for my answer, I gave up. I just want to know if there’s more time for Aussie ladies to race. Great work on your work.
Hi Tammy – a lot of the women on the site that live in the pacific time zone of north america want to have more races (which would hopefully suit Aussie riders). We are trying to figure out what time exactly works best for that group, so hopefully you see more events in your timezones as we get more women racing women’s events. Hopefully soon!
molly despondent
2 years ago
I truly appreciate how Zwift leans in with inclusivity. Joined the Discord server and ready to get into this!
Love this! Thank you to all those who contributed!!
Fantastic to see this (and about time hehe. Better late than never so thank you!). Women’s racing on zwift is empowering and uplifting. I race with NZBRO here in NZ and our ‘wāhine toa /strong women. Zwift has a fantastic women’s community across clubs, races and grades. We shouldn’t be compared to men. Or aspire to race like a ‘man’ we are our own super power. And love that we are now highlighting women’s races and athletes here. Keep up the amazing work and let’s keep championing our female athletes! Kia kaha wāhine toa!
This is awesome Ali! Do you want us to upload this as the NZBRO team description? If so, could you please send a link to join? If you’d like to join the women’s server we developed to think through how to support and encourage more women racing, please let me know and we can send you the discord link.
With racers like Kulchinsky and Guerrera, uals mere mortals are annihilated and the elite racers should allow a fair chance in womens only races. At least racing against men is far more fun.
This is fantastic! I want to show this to every woman I know! Just what we need to get more ladies into our exciting and encouraging world of Zwift. Thank you! ❤️
Hi – how do we go about getting the Women’s only Wednesday Chaingang event and broadcast on here? Thx
I loved that event Emma! If the event starts up again we can definitely include links to channels that broadcast (like YouTube), if they get commentary back.
Up and running at the moment 6.15pm gmt on a Wednesday- live broadcast on the Full Speed Events You Tube channel – just let me know what you need – thx
Can you email me at [email protected] and we can get a link to a prior race as well as a description of the series, and add it to both the race calendar and the streams?
Did Zwift Insider hire a writer from the Onion? Did we just lose 30 years of progress in women’s equality? Let’s ask ourselves why there are really so few women racers. We don’t need a website, we need to correct the very imbalanced domestic labor sharing in heterosexual relationships, especially once kids are in the mix. Because racing at 9pm after the kids go to bed is exactly what women want🙄
This assumes Zwift is able to fix the imbalances in the male-female relationship without a website as such to provide discourse, community and a place to mitigate those effects. Large social change many times happens in smaller communities of dedicated individuals. I see your concerns and agree there are imbalances. However, it is more than just that. I suggest reading Sapiens by Noval Harari to get a better understanding of how this imbalance evolved in humans and not other species. Also note: the female-athlete paradox, and psychological consequences for women as opposed to men (i.e. community versus opponents). Finally, cycling as a male dominated sport… we may not be able to change the larger social issue, but can make strides in other areas.
Knowing this, I ask, how would you propose changes in the cycling community in other areas outside of a website such as this to make those changes? Do you think those changes may be produced via discourse on a website such as this? What would those changes look like?
I should state, this website does not claim to fix the issue you are stating.
I think the creators of this website are doing a great thing. But if the goal is more women-only events, I think a more wholistic approach is needed, besides recruiting the women already on Zwift into racing. Yes, a website is absolutely a great place to discuss what else I believe needs to be done, and I’m glad we have the opportunity to do so, and that you’re asking questions.
I definitely don’t think this website will “fix” social issues. But I do think journalism is a powerful tool, and I saw an opportunity to acknowledge the disparity between men and women on Zwift, because I think it’s a hurdle to achieving what this website is after. Bringing light to the ‘why’ of the gender imbalance on Zwift is a way to make a small difference in our little corner of the internet. Before we go championing that women can ‘race like men,’ without responsibilities or limitations, let’s ask ourselves if the numbers indicate that’s actually the case.
I appreciate you asking my ideas on changes that we can make. I’d be happy to hear your (or anyone else’s) ideas as well. Or follow up on any of my own ideas.
-Give this women’s page more visibility: Put it on the homepage of Zwift Insider, rather than under ‘Getting Started.’
-Change Zwift’s category enforcement system: Make mixed racing more equitable to women. I think for the time being, mixed racing is going to be the stepping stone before we get enough all-women’s races to have a choice. For me personally, Zwift’s category enforcement has BY FAR been the biggest thing stopping me from doing mixed races. I’ve spent the past 4+ years of Zwift racing flip-flopping between a mixed A and B cat racer, and when I’m forced to race A, I get blown off the back (sometimes within the first minute of the race). I can’t emphasize enough how much better the experience of racing as a B has been. I could care less about what place I get, I just want to be IN the race. I’ve also had very good race experiences in events that use alternate ranking systems (like FRR which uses Velo ranking, or WTRL’s Autocat system) because I felt like I was always placed in an appropriate race group. Kudos to those event organizers for seeing a need to use a category system besides Zwift’s, so let’s get more of that.
-Create inclusive environments in group rides: encourage ride leaders to engage with women in their group rides. For instance, if your ride has a segment effort, mini-race, or after party, make a point to commend the efforts by women.
-Raise awareness to all the men on Zwift: let’s collaborate and talk about what men can do. Ask yourselves, do you have a partner you could help get on Zwift? If she already Zwifts, is there a way you could elevate her experience? If you are a father, can you use the implications of the under-representation of women on Zwift to guide the ideals or notions with which you empower your daughter, or responsibilities you teach to your son?
Each to their own opinion here but I want to give my own experience of Zwift racing as a woman in a relationship with three kids. I joined Zwift while pregnant with my second son, first off running, then got a trainer for cycling too. I immediately loved the female camaraderie element and would search out women-only rides, races etc. It was only by sheer luck that someone messaged me after a ride, by then about a year into my journey, and asked if I wanted to join Team Fearless (a great woman’s group on Zwift for racing and riding) – how I wish there was a website like this that could have got me into a team faster, or at least know who to contact. Struggling through post-natal anxiety with both my 2nd and 3rd children I am not overstating that riding and racing with my team was a life-saver.
I just don’t understand what your comment here is trying to achieve? Racing or riding when the kids go to bed is actually exactly what I want, I can be there for my family and then can also feel empowered and strong by physically pushing myself. During extremely isolating times of being at home with a newborn I could Zwift race during nap-times and have connection with my race team, who I now consider close friends.
I can’t answer why there are fewer female racers… but I can tell you that the team that put this website together is trying damn hard to get more women involved and I applaud them for that.
Why is that women are expected to put the women to bed though?
Also, why do we have to “race like men”?
I have such mixed feelings about this whole post. While I appreciate a place for women to actually see women do race, I’m so disappointed that I, as the woman, am expected to put my three kids to bed, and my husband can’t do that same thing? I already grew these things from head to toe, can I get a break from these expectations please??
I agree with Annie whole heartedly. This is sooooooo poorly worded but with good intentions. As a mom, I’m just disappointed. Can this be written by a woman’s perspective please? You know what, does he have any women who write ANYTHING come to think of it?
The intro text on this page was actually written by a woman (Beccah Niesen, who headed up this project). I just put the overall page together, hence me showing as the author (so I can understand the confusion).
To answer your other question: yes, we’ve had women contributors to the site.
The wording of the intro reinforces gender stereotypes that I think need to be challenged. If the goal is to get a critical mass of women racers so that there can be a calendar full of women’s events that accommodate all abilities and time zones, I think there’s an opportunity to talk about what I see as a hurdle to getting there – social issues impeding women.
When we look at the skew of male to female racers, it’s very indicative that something much more fundamental is going on. Because the convenience of Zwift is nothing new – the opportunity to get on Zwift as it fits your schedule is true for anyone – male or female. If the convenience factor is universal, then why aren’t there more women on Zwift?
I 100% agree with you that the friendships, camaraderie, and support we get from being on a Zwift team are very important! I want to have a website to connect women so more of us can have the privilege of sharing our experiences with other women. It’s just that the way it was presented felt kind of condescending, like we’re trying to chase some gold standard that men set…
Hi @Annie Poland and Angie – I think maybe you aren’t reading in the sarcasm I intended. The numbers of women racing IRL after having children drops significantly – I wish it wasn’t this way, but it is. Whether or not you’re putting your children to bed, many women feel they don’t have time to “themselves” until after the kids are in bed. And my comment about racing like men was certainly not to compliment men’s/mixed racers, but to point out that the numbers of men racing IRL and on virtual platforms does not experience the same precipitous decrease – men continue to race whether the laundry is done, the dishes are done, the kids are asleep.
To be clear, I don’t hold myself out as a writer, and didn’t intend to. I wanted to point out that women may feel hesitant to race because they don’t feel they have time with the other commitments in their lives, as caretakers or otherwise, and to give those women small ways to mitigate what they see as limitations and to boost their confidence. If you’d like to discuss social change, I’d be happy to in a different forum, but this forum is intended to build women up by giving them specific tools to bolster confidence and reinforce that which we may have in common.
I liked the article! I thought it was great 🙂
Personally I find that the language of the website at best misses the mark. I understand the positive intentions, but this really, really irked me and yes, made me feel like we just lost 30 years of progress:
“In short, women can slough off the limitations of in-real-life racing to push themselves like they don’t have any other responsibilities. To race like men already do, like they have no other responsibilities.”
Rather than reinforcing an out-of-date status quo under the guise of empowerment, let’s have real conversation around gender parity in parenting responsibilities and gender equality in cycling. When I first read it, I thought this was a parody or a joke.
Zwift, you’re a leader in the industry for championing women’s equality in the sport. Please do better. (And have your marketing collateral written by an actual woman)
In reality we have this backlash! Look at politics, look at actual gender stereotypes, book bans …
All we thought we’d overcome in the 70/80th is a threat for modern women. So I think we have to empower ourselves (sure with help of allies) more and more, have to be visible in Sports – and I like the women’s community on Zwift.
Cool to see this page, thanks!
This has been a long time coming—thank you so much to Eric for creating space for us to stretch our wings. ‘Tis the first step, toward solo flight, right?
I am inquisitively optimistic for the progression of recognition this sport has to offer so many women, all over the world—not only for our elite athletes, but also for our everyday, movement enthusiastic women who are makes strides of change across all industries, and in the home. Hats and helmets to the crew making this possible!
Will there be suitable times for the Aussie girls.. we have been missing out on a lot of ladies racing.
Would LOVE to discuss how to add more racing in for Aussie girls! Can you join us at https://discord.gg/rU8TUtGbfD to chat about it?
Thank you, I’ve just been to the Discord channel and wow, there’s a lot going on there.. I have to be honest, after being there for 15 minutes, trying to look for my answer, I gave up. I just want to know if there’s more time for Aussie ladies to race. Great work on your work.
Hi Tammy – a lot of the women on the site that live in the pacific time zone of north america want to have more races (which would hopefully suit Aussie riders). We are trying to figure out what time exactly works best for that group, so hopefully you see more events in your timezones as we get more women racing women’s events. Hopefully soon!
I truly appreciate how Zwift leans in with inclusivity. Joined the Discord server and ready to get into this!
Are you aware of the new Womens only series thats starts 22. february?
https://zwiftpower.com/events.php?zid=4220737
Love this!