Creativity, technical competence and gender: early twentieth century women motorcyclists Seminar

The paper introduces the motorcycle racing career of Beatrice Shilling and reflects upon the networks that supported Shilling through her engineering training and subsequent employment.  The paper scrutinises the types of technical knowledge and practice expected and emphasised in engineering from the early twentieth century onwards; and reflects upon the extent to which technical knowledge is seen to be acquired through ‘tinkering’.  This paper reveals some of the diverse spaces and networks through which twentieth century women motorcyclists sought to contest gendered understandings of technological competence.