'Ride 4 Women's Rights' To Raise Awareness On Gender Inequality

By Azzah Mohamad Som KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 13 (Bernama) -- Concerned with the worldwide issue of gender inequality, four young women from the Land of the Windmills are pedalling globally on their two tandem-bikes to raise awareness on the issue. The women, from Amsterdam, the Netherlands are doing this through their foundation - the Ride 4 Women's Rights (R4WR). It was about a year ago in September when they set up the foundation after having the opportunity to travel Europe and outside Europe via their studies and extracurricular activities. "We, as Dutch girls, didn't really notice gender inequality because we have the chance to study and do the things we want," R4WR president Carlijn Bettink, 24, told Bernama in an interview recently. Nevertheless, they subsequently noticed that there were other places where women were denied doing the things that they wanted to do. "We got to be very interested and frustrated about these issues," noted Bettink. Bettink (second from right), Sophie van Hoof (R4WR treasurer) (second from left), 24, Lidewij Ponjee (secretary) (left), 23, and Monique van der Veeken (logistics) (right), 24, then decided to travel over 22 countries to show women in the world that they could achieve whatever they aimed for. "We want to say to all the women in the world, that if they want to achieve something, they can and they should never feel insecure being a woman. This is because women are strong, we want to show that. We believe that gender inequality has to be eliminated, so we are all the same," stressed Bettink. Currently, the team which arrived in Malaysia on Oct 1, will be in the country until Thursday before leaving for Thailand via Penang on Sunday. "We love the country and it was fun to cycle, with the beautiful nature (as backdrop), and we are also very fond of the city of KL (Kuala Lumpur) and everything," said Bettink, when asked of the team's experience in Malaysia. The team cycled to Malaysia from Singapore via Malaysia's southern state Johor. During their stint here, they shared their experiences and stories with some "inspiring ladies". The women will be covering 14,000km in 400 days before returning to Amsterdam. As for the challenges they faced, Bettink summed it up in one breath: "Flat tyre". "I think the challenge is (involves) these bikes because they're third-hand and sometimes, they show some problems like flat tyre," she said, adding however, they managed to overcome such problems because before going on the trip, they went through a course on how to repair and maintain the bikes. Relating an experience, she said during their journey to Kuala Lumpur from Johor, the team met a "firewoman" (firefighter from the state fire and rescue department) named Aishah, who told them that she felt a bit lonely sometimes because she was surrounded by men and did not have any female friend to talk to. "But on the other hand, this makes her feel independent and makes her work even harder, and she said that, if these guys can do it, then she can definitely do it," said Bettink, noting that these were the kind of short stories which the team collected to share with their followers on their Facebook page, R4WR, and website www.r4wr.org. The women also hoped to use the information and stories gathered from symposiums at schools in the Netherlands, she said, adding that they took about a year to prepare for the trip, saving up money and approaching sponsors for things like clothings and bikes. (photoBERNAMA) -- BERNAMA