For Trui Hanoulle it started as an interest in going places and learning about people. Over the past two decades what followed became a life’s work; to gather stories about women who dare to move even in the face of prejudice, stereotypes, and other elements of gender barriers. Today on the podcast Trui joins me to talk about her mission and what she has seen and learned from the back of a motorcycle across continents and within cultures that many of us do not often hear from. She has also been kind enough to share photos of her project “Move She Does” which you can see here or in your podcast app as the episode plays.
For Trui Hanoulle it started as an interest in going places and learning about people. Over the past two decades what followed became a life’s work; to gather stories about women who dare to move even in the face of prejudice, stereotypes, and other elements of gender barriers.
Mubaraka Mohammadi, skate boarder, teacher / Afghanistan, photographed in Belgium Mahnaz Bahrami, trucker, motorbiker, musician / Iran Soudabeh Baharloo, long distance busdriver / Iran Venous Balouch, 12, is the only girl in Balouchistan to surf. The town of Chabahar, close to the Pakistani border in the far Southeast of Iran, is the only place with good surf waves. Remarkably, surf was introduced in Iran only in 2010, by the Irish Easkey Britton and two other Iranian women. Now most surfers are men, but Venous’ father believes firmly in his daughter’s talent and trains and supports her as much as he can. But surfing season is limited to four months only, ‘we are beginners ourselves’, says Abdulrahman. Venous should be able to go abroad and get a higher level of coaching to develop her skills and make her dream to become a professional surfer, come true. She herself helps and coaches village kids, boys and girls, to start surfing. She is an example to many. Mahtab Ghiasi, 36, is the founder and leader of Yazd Banoo Cycling, a women’s club for bicycle riders in the city of Yazd, Iran. The desert city with its narrow alleys in the old center, has a historic tradition of cycling. Yet until fairly recently, only men were cycling. No law in Iran forbids women to cycle but conservative religious individuals and groups oppose fiercely, on the grounds of ‘provoking views of women’s butts’, and ‘having an object between the legs’. Mahtab has been a passionate cyclist by herself since childhood. Cycling is life and love, she says. It’s also good for health and for nature. She founded Yazd Banoo Cycling a year ago through Instagram, now counting over 600 members. She is a ferm advocate of sharing the management of her club, and continuously reaches out to other women’s clubs in Isfahan, Zahedan and Ahvaz. Elke Maria Löhnerz, motorbiker, teacher / GermanyToday on the podcast Trui joins me to talk about her mission and what she has seen and learned from the back of a motorcycle across continents and within cultures that many of us do not often hear from. She has also been kind enough to share photos of her project “Move She Does” which you can see here or in your podcast app as the episode plays.
