A long run for women’s rights

Three years ago, Alicia Bayer had never run a marathon. In fact, she was not even a regular runner. Now, she runs at a pace of a marathon per day through the Himalaya.

On 16 April, Bayer completed her ultra run of 140km, summiting Kyanjin Ri (4,700m) and Tserko Ri of Langtang Valley (4,985m) in just seven days. A few weeks before that, she had run 640km along from Mumbai to Goa along the western coast of India in 15 days.

Bayer’s runs are documented daily on her Instagram page, amassing nearly 25,000 followers. Through photographs, short videos, and personal stories, her goal is to draw attention to the rights of women.

As a young woman, Bayer witnessed firsthand and through news reports that women are exploited around the world. She used to think that if women across Europe, and her home country of Germany still struggle with equality it has to be worse in more traditional parts of the world. 

“I saw the problem, but I didn’t see how I could change it,” Bayer recalls thinking. 

But last November as she meditated at a monastery in Nepal she decided to turn inwards, reflecting on these feelings. Bayer knew that running empowered her personally, but doing it solely for competition was not making an impact. So she asked herself: how can I turn what I do into something meaningful?

“Then I realised that if you really want to change something, you need to do little things on small levels rather than trying to help everyone at once. You have to rebuild systems and support the people who are already helping,” adds Bayer.

This is how Bayer found ultra running and social media as her medium for advocacy. Her goal is to draw attention from global audiences through her extreme running feats, and then direct that to women’s rights organisations already doing grassroots work. 

In Nepal, Bayer ran on behalf of Freedom in Disasters, a 'for-purpose organisation' that works globally to prevent disaster victims from being traffickied as happened in Nepal post-earthquake in 2015. Because Nepal is disaster-prone, many women fall into human trafficking during the times of crises. 

Freedom in Disasters is an umbrella organisation working across different regions and crises. In Nepal, it partners with groups deeply rooted in the community, including Alliance Against Trafficking in Women and Children in Nepal (AATWIN ), the Sunita Foundation which works to aid survivors of human trafficking, Chhori that empowers young women through education and skill training, and Shakti Samuha that supports survivors of abuse. 

Each of these organisations play different roles in the various stages of recovery for vulnerable women and children. Bayer included a donation link to Freedom in Disasters in each post and story during her seven-day run, encouraging followers to support the organisation. 

She also works directly with women in villages along the trail where she runs. In India, she visited schools and spoke face-to-face with girls, encouraging and empowering them. 

“Fathers would proudly bring me their daughters to speak to me, it brought me so much joy to see them feel inspired,” Bayer tells Nepali Times, adding that she plans to continue partnering with charitable groups in Nepal working on menstrual health and equity in sports. 

On 29 May Bayer is hoping to become the first German woman to complete the Everest Ultra-Marathon, running 70km from Everest Base Camp to Namche Bazar. 

Says Bayer: “I hope my accomplishments will show women across the world that even if systems try to convince us all the time that we are the weaker gender, that we don’t deserve education or rights, we should never forget how powerful we are and that we deserve the same opportunities and rights as men.”

Instagram: @runtheworldwithalicia