Empowering Pedals Journey of Rukhsar Habibzai Afghan Cyclist
Rukhsar Habibzai is the founder of the Cheetah Cycling Club and the captain of her nations pioneering womens cycling team. Renowned for their courage in challenging gender norms, Rukhsar and her team were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016.
While pursuing dentistry at Cheragh Medical University located in Kabul Afghanistan, she was forced to leave his country in the mass evacuation program as many others who faced targeted gender violence by the Taliban. She now lives and works as a dental assistant in Virginia. She is also a vauluable member of Virginia’s Blue Ridge TWENTY24 Cycling Team as she continues to follow her passion, Cycling, and advocate for Women’s rights.
She Said: In a country where the efforts of a female cyclist are considered shameful, I am not only riding my bicycle for myself, but I will also revolutionize for every woman whose dream is freedom.
Rukhsar Habibzai is the founder of the Cheetah Cycling Club and the captain of her nations pioneering womens cycling team. Renowned for their courage in challenging gender norms, Rukhsar and her team were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016.
While pursuing dentistry at Cheragh Medical University located in Kabul Afghanistan, she was forced to leave his country in the mass evacuation program as many others who faced targeted gender violence by the Taliban. She now lives and works as a dental assistant in Virginia. She is also a vauluable member of Virginia’s Blue Ridge TWENTY24 Cycling Team as she continues to follow her passion, Cycling, and advocate for Women’s rights.
One woman’s daring adventure through a world filled with inequality and adversity is a ray of hope and inspiration. Meet Rukhsar Habibzai, a heroine from Ghazni Province, Afghanistan, not stopped by her society’s biased norms towards her gender, who fought the barriers and redefined what it means to be a woman in Afghanistan.
From a young age, she had a passion for cycling which was deemed taboo for girls. Regardless of the gender-biased societal norms in her homeland, she always dreamed of a future filled with girl cyclists littering the streets of Afghanistan who pedaled freely without any fear of being stigmatized.
Her journey kick started when she joined a local cycling team in 2012. Determined to pursue her dream of an equal society and advocacy for women’s rights to higher levels, she persevered and went on to become an integral member of Afghanistan’s national cycling team in 2014.
In 2016, she claimed the first position at a cycling competition competing with 30 contestants at the distance of Kabul to Paghman city. This was only her second participation as a national cyclist, yet this was the competition that brought her many certificates of achievement and a Medal accompanied by a certificate of appreciation for her hard work from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She participated in many more cycling races achieving more and more.
Rukhsar Habibzai’s main goal was not personal awards, but it was an equal society free of oppression. She and her team proved to be an example for all the women around the world suffering oppression and injustice. They were nominated for 2016 Nobel Peace prize for their constant endeavors in advocating for women’s rights.
She did not limit her fight against inequality and Violence Against Women only to sports. She had advocated for women’s rights at many national and international conferences too. Being committed to improvement and serving her community, she had also studied dentistry at Cheragh Medical University in Kabul, Afghanistan, and later on continued her dentistry journey as a dental assistant in Virginia, America where she resides now.
As she continues to pedal towards her goal, Rukhsar Habibzai stands as a prime example of not giving up, proving the naysayers wrong, challenging the status quo and finally getting what one wants from life. Her dream has not changed; she still dreams of a society where equality spreads the streets.