FEATURE
Zoë Westerman, events manager at Action Medical Research
“I had another scenario where I was performing a bike fit, and this customer mentioned to me about my legs, saying how fit I was and stuff that I felt very uncomfortable with. And I felt like I couldn’t go and approach my colleagues about this because I look like I’m the one complaining.”
Women in the room Customers treating women differently is perhaps not restricted to cycling, but when you’re running the event people are attending, you might think that would warrant some respect. Instead, Zoë Westerman, events manager at Action Medical Research revealed it’s often been the opposite when running sportives and events in the past in previous roles. “It was a funny experience because even though I was running the event, if there was any man in any sort of authoritative position, people would ask them questions rather than me. The coach might signpost them and say, ‘You’ll have to ask Zoë because she’s running the event.’ And they’d sort of look and then turn back and start asking the coach more questions as if no, I can’t ask her, she can’t possibly know.” “I think it almost pushed me to a point where in some of the earlier events I took a backseat then, so I ran the event but I wasn’t the face of the event at all because I thought maybe they’re more comfortable asking men questions. I think it pushed me into that position and made me feel less confident in answering questions, which is ridiculous in itself.”
16 | April 2023 She began her new role at Action Medical Research
earlier this year and has joined an all-female events team. For Westerman, seeing women succeeding in the cycling industry is key to attracting more to join. “One of the things that I love is just trying to make
sure that women can see that women work in these fields. It’s tricky because obviously, you can’t be what you don’t see, but through the years I’ve been involved things have definitely changed and there have been steps forward although I think there’s still a whole way to go.” So has the bike industry changed in favour of women in the last few years? Based on both my personal experience and the women I spoke to for this piece, perhaps it depends on the position you’re in. Those in media roles, including myself, seem to have been more fortunate than those in more customer-facing ones. It seems daft to write, ‘fortunate’ to talk about feeling comfortable and safe in the workplace when really, it should be that way for everyone no matter their gender, age, or race. Granted, a bad overall experience from one person does not define an entire industry, but even one incident of sexism or even harassment should not be tolerated in this day and age. To say the industry is still stuck in its old ways would be harsh. It’s evident that changes are being made, more women are being appointed to senior roles and there is more representation across the industry. However, there is still a long way to go if we want to create an equal and safe environment for women to work in. ●
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