The Guardian – Nazia Parveen
I would sit on our front doorstep watching in awe as my brother did wheelies on his BMX, whizzing up and down our cul-de-sac with his friends – with me looking on enviously, but never asking to have a go. It was just not the done thing. Growing up in a Pakistani household in inner-city Birmingham I had never seen any of my female peers cycling. It’s not something that I discussed with my parents; they weren’t against it, but they never encouraged it either. It was ingrained that perching atop a saddle in a salwaar kameez (traditional Pakistani dress) was un-ladylike. So I never learned. (more)