Biography of Fanny Bullock Workman (Worcester [Massachusetts], 1859 - Cannes [France], 1925)

By Pere Gifra Adroher
Translation by Raquel Boix and Dahra Mautone

Born into a wealthy family in Worcester, Massachusetts, Fanny Bullock Workman was an intrepid traveler and explorer. Her remarkable journey is forever linked to her extensive bicycle tours through Algeria, Spain and India, as well as her daring expeditions to the Karakoram and Himalaya mountain ranges. She made history as the first woman to summit peaks nearly 7,000 meters high. In 1881, she married Dr. William Hunter Workman, an experienced mountaineer twelve years her senior. Together, they embarked on many of these adventures and authored numerous articles and travel books. The calculations and observations documented in these publications brought her significant recognition and access to prestigious institutions that were traditionally resistant to women's voices. One of her early books, Sketches Awheel in Modern Iberia (1897), recounts the Spanish journey the couple undertook during the spring and summer of 1895. They covered over four thousand kilometers by bicycle, averaging about 75 kilometers per day. Their luggage weighed between five and nine kilograms and included a pistol for safety. They traveled along the Mediterranean coast from Portbou to Cádiz, and then proceeded from Seville to Madrid, passing through Extremadura. They also cycled through Castille and León, gradually making their way to Zaragoza and finally to Irún, their last stop. Through her numerous achievements, Fanny B. Workman showed other women how far the «New Woman» of the fin-de-siècle could go. Although she enjoyed the leisure and privileges of the wealthy class which she belonged to, she always considered herself a woman ahead of her time and was committed to feminist issues. Her support for the suffrage movement and her focus on women's experiences in her travel books are excellent examples of this commitment.