Comments on: Getting More Women on the Bike

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lacoste polo shirts — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 11:27:00 +0000

Women are expected to do more errands and transport kids more than men are, and so women can’t as easily just grab a bike. Women take things like comfort and practicality into account much more than men.

By: Ann Reed

Ann Reed — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 21:52:36 +0000

An article I wrote for Minnesota Public Radio last week:
minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/12/31/reed/

I do most of my commuting on my bike year ’round but I do have limits and most are related to safety: no biking in the dark or when it’s below 10 degrees F or in blizzards or raging thunderstorms. Minneapolis has an increasing number of bike lanes and greenways – and I am seeing more and more women riding.

By: herbie huff

herbie huff — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 23:57:46 +0000

I get what you’re saying, Stacey.

But the better survey design would have simply asked these questions in a gender neutral way. If there were gender gaps in the answers, then we can talk about changing things to target those gaps. I don’t really see how we move ourselves toward getting more women on the bike with this survey, because we have no idea how these results compare to what a mixed-gender survey would have shown.

Jonathan (#15) already basically said this.

I was one of the core volunteers on LACBC’s Bike Count, and we saw gender gaps in our data, big time. In particular, we counted higher percentages of women riding on bicycle paths and lanes compared to routes and streets with no bike infrastructure. We also saw lower percentages of women during the evening rush hour. The idea that women are an indicator species for cyclists is borne out by our data, because the intersections with the highest counts also tended to have higher percentages of women. One exception to this is that few women rode at night, but we counted the most cyclists during the night count. So we can see a gendered pattern there.

I mention all that to say that I agree that the low rates of women cycling is cause for campaigns and changes. I just think this particular piece of this particular campaign wasn’t carefully thought through.

By: stacey2545

stacey2545 — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 21:47:58 +0000

@ Herbie Huff: I would agree with you, except that I’ve met women like that. The women who won’t go to the grocery store without taking a half hour to do their makeup & hair will not ride a bike to do their errands or meet friends for dinner or drinks. This is not every woman, but sadly still a significant percentage in our image-obsessed culture. Make cycling more fashion-friendly, or let cycling come in fashion, and they’ll change their tune.

@ danceralamode: The idea that women don’t want to work on their bikes to protect their manicures is outdated, but how many women who drive will change a tire vs call AAA when they get a flat? I’m also carefree, but I might not have made that choice if I expected/worried about showing up for my office job or a date with grease on my hands and a chain mark on my leg.

For the record, I would have been voted “least girly” amongst my college friends and I went to a liberal feminist women’s college. Don’t wear makeup to get messed up or sweat off, choose my haircut based on what’s easiest to fix when I take off my helmet. I can see where everyone is coming from being offended by the stereotypes some of the survey questions implied, but sadly I have actaully heard those excuses from real people. I don’t think they’re actual standalone reasons why women choose not to ride, but they are legitimate obstacles to some, particularly older generations/more conservative (like the ones who wear pantyhose even in the summer).

The bigger obstacles are still perception of safety/convenience. And as a group women tend to be more risk averse. They are less likely to be the ones leading the charge to take back the streets from thugs/distracted drivers by putting themselves in harm’s way.

By: Damien Newton

Damien Newton — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:12:51 +0000

To follow up a little on what Dancer said, I think the idea of women not wanting to get grease in their hair period is a little outmoded. When it comes to fixing things around the house, it’s my wife, the engineer, who does all of the work. Also, whenever I go to one of L.A.’s bike co-ops for some help it’s almost always a woman who’s teaching me how to fix up the bike.

By: claire_quilty

claire_quilty — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:51:22 +0000

I made sure to include where possible to not assume women don’t cycle because of superficial reasons. Some of those questions were indeed ridiculous. I’ll bike to work in open toed pumps if I have to and when a problem leaves me tinkering with greasy parts, I’ll even wipe my hands on my clothes. It’s called a washing machine.

From my experience with women who do not cycle, it’s because of safety and convenience (and by convenience i mean it’s too easy to jump in a car to reach a destination). Safety and convenience are concerns for ALL cyclists. I don’t have my road bike fitted to be a good commuter bike, so when I know it’ll be dangerous to lug purchases from running errands I may borrow a car or take mass transit. If I know the streets to reach a destination are too busy and motorists tend to drive poorly on said streets, I won’t ride my bike.

I may be simplifying things here, but I feel like if you made cycling safe for everyone, more women would cycle. The answer isn’t in cute feminine accessories, people.

By: Roy

Roy — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:33:47 +0000

The European model includes things we don’t have here:

1. Strict liability for driver who strike cyclists and pedestrian.
2. Speed limits on city streets of 17.5 mph not 45mph which makes a huge difference in surviving being struck.
3. A much higher cost of obtaining a driver’s license and higher operating costs for the machine once you own it.

Additionally, we (in the US) assume that bikers means 20-40yo athletic while males who have a extremely high risk tolerance. They “can” ride on the roadways.

Finally, the cost per trip of buildling seperate bicycle facilities to accomodate all (or even most) motorist will be fairly substantial.

Just some thoughts,

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 14:51:55 +0000

Just a comment on the survey design: if the goal is to identify policies and practices that affect women cyclists particularly, as opposed to cyclists in general (both men and women), survey respondents need to include both sexes. If you don’t hear what men have to say, it’s likely that the policies and practices that the women identify would be the same ones that men would name.