Nairobi’s Motorcycle Sisterhood
Personal project, 2021
The women's motorcycling scene has grown exponentially in Nairobi, Kenya over the last few years. Rather than dampening that growth, a year of Covid-19 strains have only encouraged more women to start riding. For some, it was their new work-from-home schedules that gave them the free time to take training classes, for others it was a newfound appreciation of their own mortality — "you only live once" — that inspired them to follow through on their dream of mastering two wheels. Many also took up riding as a way to avoid crowded public transportation or heavy city traffic, and to find an activity where they felt in control in a world spinning out of it. Five years ago, there were less than twenty women who were active members of the Nairobi motorcycle community. Today, there are hundreds, and more, spurred on by organized women's riding clubs, are learning to ride each day.
Global motorcycle sales and ridership skyrocketed in 2020 as people looked for ways to escape the boredom of lockdown while staying socially distanced. For many already feeling the confines of motherhood and social expectations, Covid knocked their world into a tailspin and learning to ride allowed them to feel in control again.
These women illustrate a shift away from entrenched gender norms in Kenyan culture. While a woman on a motorcycle remains a novelty in Kenya, they are beginning to break long-standing cultural and familial expectations of motherhood and femininity, often in spite of protests from friends and family members. The past decade has produced a country-wide women’s equality movement, as exemplified in empowerment programs and an effort to place more women in positions of political power, with mixed results. The fight against gender-based violence and income inequality remains an uphill battle. But, the women in the motorcycle community have seen an expansion of what is possible for themselves and want to help other women to see those possibilities as well.