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Apr 22, 2023Liked by James Turner

Thanks James for this piece on diversity, it's an important issue and follows the Bicycle Association report which came out on March 8th. In the bike shop I run we have a gender split of 4 women to 5 men, it's not perfect but we've got that far through looking at all aspects of recruitment - words, images, information. Just hoping that more women will turn up is never enough.

When I imagine working as a cargo bike courier the first things I think are 'how, where will I go to the loo?' and 'will I be able to lift heavy weights?'. Explaining how the working day operates, what you will be expected to do and what support you'll have, is step 1 towards attracting more diverse recruits. Whereas just saying 'Cargo Bike Courier wanted' doesn't tell me anything.

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I don't think we should get too hung up just yet on the male and pale cargo bike industry. These things evolve and it is evolving already. I too was at Guildhall. The tide is turning and will continue to do so. As for Twitter. A wise judge once said the way to change a bad law is to obey it. The way to change a bad platform is to get in, speak out and change from within. Musk is a a interesting character. But imagine that drive and passion put to good.......

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