Women on a Roll: In the Workplace

Through the glass windows of Recycle-a-Bicycle are rows of used tires and boxes of spare screws and bolts. You can smell the rubber all around. To the right bicycles are for sale. They do not sparkle or shine like new—that’s because these bikes are built from recycled parts. A brown haired girl in a pink skirt blows up the tires on her rusty teal ten-speed.

From behind a bike stand, a slender short haired bike mechanic appears and sets down her tools. Mechanic, April Frederick walks up to the customer and offers a helping hand to inflate the flat tire. The brown-haired girl thanks her, then rolls the bike out the door. There are many reasons that girl with the flat tire may have ended up at the Recycle-a-Bicycle (RAB) store that day. While it may be the only bike store in the neighborhood, it also became a welcoming shop for women.

After fifteen years of promoting recycling, RAB has also become a key to promoting female leadership in the bicycle culture. Whether founder Karen Overton planned it this way or not, the organization has become a place for women to train and fit into a male dominated career.

Overton, no longer at RAB presently works as the Catalyst Coordinator at the New York City Department of Parks, founded the non-profit organization in 1994 with a grant from Transportation Alternatives. It began as an educational resource for students in local schools to learn how to repair their own bikes. Approximately 25 girls and boys intern each year, and some are offered a job after at one of the stores. RAB members opened the first shop in the East Village in 1994. Two years ago, a second shop opened in the DUMBO area under the Brooklyn Overpass on Pearl Street. These shops repair bikes as well as sell bikes made out of recycled parts. These reused materials produce less waste because there is less shipping from foreign countries as well as less packaging that goes along with a new bike.

The mission of this organization began as a way to save money as well as the environment, while teaching young adults how to repair and maintain bicycles. Overton is no longer with RAB, but she created a place for learning and sustainable living that would remain a part of the city long after her reign. Many other females have followed in her footsteps to keep the mission alive.

The current RAB director Pasqualina Azzarello, a friendly petite brown haired woman, works at the DUMBO location. “We have more women mechanics than men now and that’s a rare occurrence,” Azzarello says as she heads back to her desk to file more paperwork. Between the two shops, there are six women and five men mechanics.

Male Majority in Mechanics

In a city with 185,000 cyclists, the New York Department of Transportation announced there was a 26% increase in bicycle commuters since 2008. According to a Rutgers University study researched by Professor John Pulcher, only 25% of these cyclists are women. Even with increased interest in biking, women are a minority among these numbers. But at RAB, the males take a seat and are no longer the majority.

Head mechanic at the DUMBO shop, Chris Brunson, a blonde-haired young man with rolled up gray pants and grease all over his hands is the only male in the room today. He began working at RAB two and a half years ago. Originally from Washington, he learned how to fix bikes at a community based shop back east. This shop is his first experience working in a predominantly female environment.

“Typically bike shops in general have too much of a male presence, which means at times there is a macho attitude that can dominate,” he says as he looks around the shop. “Working with [women] is helpful, because I feel there is good communication.”

Along side Brunson, is Susan Lindell, the shop manager. Throughout the day, the two joke and laugh, without any sign of disagreement. Lindell doesn’t find it difficult to be an expert in this type of work, even if she has had a few instances where men don’t trust her opinion. Every now and then, a male will come into the shop and ask, “Where’s Chris?” and insist he works on the bike instead. Apparently, a few customers believe a woman cannot repair as well as a man. “Certain people won’t trust a woman telling them what they need to repair,” Brunson says. In most cases, he says older people feel that way, while younger customers are open to the fact that there are women mechanics.

For Lindell, she feels people in this part of New York are open minded, especially those who bike. With her hair pulled back into a bun and tucked under a black baseball cap, she laughs about an instance where a young child mistook her for a boy and said, “Daddy he’s fixing your bike.”

For Lindell, the stereotype does not affect her because she knows she is just as well as educated as a man. “Honestly they shouldn’t because plenty of men don’t know what they’re doing either,” she says. She insists that no matter who you are, you can always learn more about how to repair bikes. Everyday she learns something new from her co-workers because everyone has a different background to share.

Comfort with Co-Workers and Customers

Mechanic Frederick finds herself more comfortable with other women there. “I always like to see a woman in this job [because] often I feel I can relate to them better,” she says putting away some spare parts. With women employees, it attracts more female interns and customers. This year, the interns are nearly all girls. With women mentors, this helps create a comfortable learning environment for the teen girls.

“Men are more dominant in situations that are stereotypically male occupations so, by removing the men, women get a chance to try everything,” Frederick says. In California, she volunteered at a shop with all men. With a disgusted look, she tells how they never let her lift heavy boxes and bikes. Instead they designated her with cleaning. She has been at RAB for the last year and a half and noticed a change in the workplace. Throughout any given day, she is seen lifting bikes off racks. She does this herself because she is the one who replaces the chain or brakes. She is willing to help anyone who walks through the door.

The young brunette girl, Heather Gray, leaves RAB with air in her tires. She lives in the neighborhood and returns for repairs when she need them. “This shop has always been friendly towards me,” Gray says. “The female mechanics surprised me from my first visit, but now it’s interesting to see this diversity you don’t see at other shops I have been to.”

The mechanics at RAB seem to love the combination of the organization’s mission and its people. With the rise of females in the workplace, there is also a strong emphasis on living more environmentally friendly. With this growing trend across the nation, there has been increased interest in the shop.

Teaching Teens the Techniques

The shop is an educational as well as an environmental resource for anyone aspiring to be a bicycle mechanic, especially a young female. Frederick recalls a high school teacher who attended a class at RAB, who asked for the female mechanics to teach the same class to her female high school students. “Having women for half of the mechanics certainly helps promote women in this role,” Frederick says. “We are role models for young females without intending to be.”

In the back of the shop, two teenage girls put a bicycle on a stand to attach a missing tire. This is one of the repairs the interns learn in the program under the supervision of the mechanics. Mechanic, Lindell, learned the basic repair skills by volunteering with RAB, when founder Overton was still at the organization. Lindell’s positive experiences led her to acquire a position as a full-time mechanic. Now, she is the shop manager and a guide for young adults.

“It’s a sense of self sufficiency to be able to fix a bike yourself,” she says. She heads to the sink to wash the grease off her hands. Just as Brunson’s hands were, hers are covered in oil from a long day of work.