What is stopping women cycling?

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Some of the mechanics in an LBS are women, incl I think one of the owners.

[T42]

Another possible cause for jacking it in: hubby pounding away up a hill while wife struggles grimly along 200 yds behind, more out of solidarity than pleasure. A similar phenomenon is to be seen along the canals: fishing hubby with three rods out while his missus sits in a shivering hunch at the rear, guarding the lunch basket and longing for sunset.

[Wanlock Dod]

What is stopping women cycling?  Cars.  It's the cars.

This, and it's not just stopping women. Most women I know wouldn't even consider cycling because of the traffic,  and to be honest most men are the same (apart from being a bit less likely to cite fear as the main reason). Indeed I tend to feel that women are perhaps more likely to make trips by car that could easily be made by bicycle (or walking), although this is obviously a serious affliction of a very large number of men too.

[Thing2]

I haven't been out in commuting times, but I've been pleased to notice more women out on the roads at weekends now I'm back in the UK compared to 6 years ago. There's still a long way to go though. One thing I have noticed, as in California, most women are not in the bigger club rides but out in one's and twos. In California there were almost as many women as men cycling. Not in the noon ride or morning ride which was full of racers and testosterone and had at most one or two riding, but in the middle of a week day there was a steady stream of women training on their own or in small groups. The core regulars of one of the toughest weekday rides in my club was all female. This mirrors my riding preferences - I'd rather be on my own or with one or two others than in a bigger group. I do think that many women lack the confidence to commute by bike. We've all been told it's dangerous or that we are brave which isn't going to encourage women. Normalising cycle commuting will help, but I'm not sure how we get to the point where enough men and women are cycling that it is normalised.

I'm with Kim on the commonality between women cycling and in STEM too btw.A different issue, but similar end result.

[DuncanM]

The club I'm part of makes a big deal about encouraging women to join and take part (and has a 50:50 target, which is explicitly stated), but I agree that sports cycling is not where the biggest gains are to be had. Traffic (and perceived danger) stops so much cycling, male and female (and youngsters). My wife enjoys cycling, has a bike, and has not ridden it in many years - she just doesn't feel comfortable riding on road, and while Oxford has a number of very good off-road cycle paths, they require road use to link them up (or to get anywhere particularly useful/interesting). The council is spending significant money on some very big visible cycle paths, and they look like they will be useful, but if they spent a smaller amount on linking some of the existing ones it could increase use so much more...

[clarion]

Agree with that (though to reiterate, I don't think it's actually much of a barrier to cycling - plenty of acomplished male cyclists demonstrate a shocking lack of what I'd consider to be basic mechanical skills).

Ah, but those men often believe they are capable (Dunning-Kruger again?), and many competent women are nurtured not to have confidence in their skills...

[clarion]

What is stopping women cycling?  Cars.  It's the cars.

Oh so nearly won the internets again.  But, while it may to some extent be the cars, it's probably mostly the drivers

[Kim]

What is stopping women cycling?  Cars.  It's the cars.

Oh so nearly won the internets again.  But, while it may to some extent be the cars, it's probably mostly the drivers

Spoken like a cyclist:  Imagine if all the motor vehicles were replaced by competent computer-driven ones, which always left a metre of overtaking room, never bullied their way out at junctions, etc, and effectively eliminated RTCs.  I bet an awful lot of people still wouldn't want to cycle among them.  Big lumps of kinetic-energy-laden metal are scary to be close to, no matter how well controlled.  Subjective impressions tend to win over abstract knowledge.

[Kim]

Agree with that (though to reiterate, I don't think it's actually much of a barrier to cycling - plenty of acomplished male cyclists demonstrate a shocking lack of what I'd consider to be basic mechanical skills).

Ah, but those men often believe they are capable (Dunning-Kruger again?), and many competent women are nurtured not to have confidence in their skills...

That's a good, if separate point.  I was thinking of the people who treat bikes like they treat their cars: Ride them, and when something goes wrong, they take it back to the place they bought it from and get them to fix it.  Their toolkit is a mobile phone, and they tend to regard bike-fettling skills beyond puncture repair as witchcraft.  They're the ones who go shooting off at the start of populaires, and if you meet them again, it's because they're clustered at the side of the road scratching their heads at a boot-looping Garmin or a broken chain.

I think there are various factors cultivating this attitude:  Some people are well-off and simply don't want to get their hands dirty - why wouldn't they just take it to the bike shop and let someone who enjoys that sort of thing sort it out?  Younger people who are second-generation products of a replace-rather-than-repair society find the idea of owning - let alone using - tools alien.  They probably don't have anywhere they can use as a workshop anyway.  And yes, women who are taught to eschew those kind of practical skills.

But, much as it pains me to watch, how much does this sort of thing matter?  Do we actually want a nation of gender-balanced amateur bike mechanics?  Or do we want people to leave their cars at home more often?

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Folk seem quite relaxed about railway platform edges in a manner quite different to what happens when their car is broken down in a motorway hard-shoulder. Kinetic energy isn't the problem but the potential random directions of motion as a result of the driver's choices.

[Butterfly]

What is stopping women cycling?  Cars.  It's the cars.

Oh so nearly won the internets again.  But, while it may to some extent be the cars, it's probably mostly the drivers

Spoken like a cyclist:  Imagine if all the motor vehicles were replaced by competent computer-driven ones, which always left a metre of overtaking room, never bullied their way out at junctions, etc, and effectively eliminated RTCs.  I bet an awful lot of people still wouldn't want to cycle among them.  Big lumps of kinetic-energy-laden metal are scary to be close to, no matter how well controlled.  Subjective impressions tend to win over abstract knowledge.

I think that's true Kim, and even more so buses and lorries, especially in town. Even the well driven ones are intimidating when you are slow and wobbly and unfit. Especially when you are also transporting children.

[Charlie Polecat]

It isn't just cycling either. Walking my dog in the morning along streets absent of foot paths with cars racing to the next intersection not knowing if the drivers are fixated on their smart phones to check their social media sites. Whether walking or cycling, one just has to hope this is not the day a distracted or impatient or just downright belligerent driver is not going to mess it all up.

[Croft]

Folk seem quite relaxed about railway platform edges in a manner quite different to what happens when their car is broken down in a motorway hard-shoulder. Kinetic energy isn't the problem but the potential random directions of motion as a result of the driver's choices.

Not so sure. Some people might occasionally stand on the rail side of the platform yellow line when a fast train approaches, but it's not common. And rarer still would be people walking along that narrow strip as a fast train passes. As soon as you introduce your own movement, that hulk of close kinetic energy becomes more hazardous. Even more so when on a bike.

How many people would be comfortable with their five year old that close to a fast train? However "good" and predictable the moving vehicle is, it is intimidating (to women, men and children).

If you want a balance of men and women cycling you need to tackle the reasons why 91% of people don't cycle routinely and 69% of people never cycle. The rest is just detail.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

People will happily stand 1m from the platform edge while a train is passing but are advised to get out of their broken-down car and move well away from it when it is in the motorway hard-shoulder. If people trusted an autonous car to be as directionally reliable as a train, they'd be a lot more comfortable in relatively close quarters than to current drivers.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Autonomous cars should in theory need less tarmac on which to travel.  Narrower carriageways in fact.  In which case the spare road width could be set aside for cyclists. 

Another possible cause for jacking it in: hubby pounding away up a hill while wife struggles grimly along 200 yds behind, more out of solidarity than pleasure.

Altho' I have been overtaken by quite a few female cyclists, and I wouldn't say I was slow in the normal way of things.

Mrs A has packed in cycling for health reasons.   Not something for which there is a remedy unfortunately.

[SoreTween]

(Mayhap AA/RAC should extend the cover to cycled journeys "you're the member not the vehicle ...?")

Veering off topic but I think that's probably the best idea I've seen in a long time    As Kim says most journeys are short and simply would not be worth the wait for the man in a van to show up.  But then there are those occasions when at the furthest point of a days ride it turns out the new tube you are carrying for a year has chafed through in your bag.  Hasn't happened to me yet but...

[ian]

Are mechanical issues really a problem? I hope not because I can't fix shit. That said, even on the few times there's been a problem I've most managed to creak home. I've no idea, of course, why puncture proof tyres don't come as standard, I think punctures put a lot of people off (male and female) which is a bit of a shame considering they're easily avoided.

But anyway, the truth is upthread, effectively no one cycles. And if you remove the barriers and make cycling more pleasant and feel safer, then not only do a lot more people cycle, it becomes a lot more inclusive.

[The Family Cyclist]

Thought I'd posted already but basically cars drivers and perceived threat of a woman out alone at night. To cycle on the roads around our town you do unfortunately need to be combative at times. I know they're often disliked by folk on here as for many reasons but for less confident riders or kids even a half decent cycle path maybe the difference between someone cycling or driving. I think the why does no one apart from us weirdos/pioneers cycle is several essays in itself.

[Charlie Polecat]

I've no idea, of course, why puncture proof tyres don't come as standard, I think punctures put a lot of people off (male and female) which is a bit of a shame considering they're easily avoided.

I'm not sure about: 'Puncture proof' but there are several makes of tyres that are less prone and I do see several people - not only women - walking their bikes due to a puncture and claiming they either do not have a spare tube, or don't have the levers, or simply don't think they are up to the task of changing the tyre so would rather walk the bike back home. Most if not all LBS offer courses in changing a tube but when suggested this to those doing the walk I mostly get a shrug.

If you want to ride a bike, you have to recognise you will get a puncture and you do need to be able to change the tube.

One down side  I will add to supposedly 'puncture proof tyres' is they usually have Kevlar beads around the rim which are a devil to ease over the wheel rim even for men. I do wonder though why LBS's don't recognise that women have a much harder job removing tyres to change a tube due to less strong hands and make sure to sell them tyres with softer beading. Even Gatorskins - I don't get punctures with these except when riding through water - which I use have the option of beadings.

[ian]

I think I've had one puncture ever which Marathon Pluses (and that was half a Beck's bottle wedged upwards between two pavement slabs). But ordinary people just don't want to be bothered with changing tyres and things. I think there's a problem in that most bikes sold aren't set up for a easy, and low maintenance riding, so quite quickly end up in the shed or garage. And the one's that tend to be very expensive (at least relative to what people expect to pay for a 'starter' bike). Anyway, every bike I've bought has been a puncture magnet until I've changed the tyres, and yes, I too see a lot of people pushing a bike with a flat tyre.

I'm a bloke and I don't cycle after 10pm, it's just not worth it. No police, too many people pissed up and stoned people behind the wheels. But I think once you use terms like having to cycle 'defensively' or 'assertively' then that's perhaps that real reason no group really cycles. And often it's the 'micro-aggressions' rather than outright dangerous that mount up. I think to cycle on a British road you've got to be pretty passionate about cycling.

[Charlie Polecat]

Apart from those who use their bikes for commuting or racing, the rest of us are recreational riders - including audaxers - and unless there is some imperative to ride (like Audaxing) it becomes very easy to lose interest and 'hang the bike up in the garage'.

More bike routes free of traffic leading out into the countryside with a nice tea room at the end might encourage more people to ride. A pie in the sky idea and not pie at the end?

[L CC]

Several of my colleagues don't cycle (and these are non-drivers) 5 flat traffic free miles to work because they think you have to look like I do, to do it. They then ask why I don't wear a helmet.

All the Copenhagen Cycle Chic in the world doesn't help if the only rider to work is a sweaty fat bird in lycra who rides for an hour in the rain to get there, needs a shower at the end and DOESN'T STRAIGHTEN HER HAIR.

[Butterfly]

Are mechanical issues really a problem? I hope not because I can't fix shit. That said, even on the few times there's been a problem I've most managed to creak home. I've no idea, of course, why puncture proof tyres don't come as standard, I think punctures put a lot of people off (male and female) which is a bit of a shame considering they're easily avoided.

But anyway, the truth is upthread, effectively no one cycles. And if you remove the barriers and make cycling more pleasant and feel safer, then not only do a lot more people cycle, it becomes a lot more inclusive.

I think the mechanical issues are an issue in people's heads. I had a coversation with some kids on a tow path once, when I was touring on my own: "What happens if you get a puncture?" "I fix it." "What happens if you get another puncture?" "I fix it again." "But what happens if you get another puncture again?" "I push it to a bike shop or a train station". This seemed beyond heir belief, and they were within the M25!

Mechanical issues may also be more concern for women who are worried about being stranded in an area they don't know - even if there are people to offer help, they may feel at risk in a way they don't when in a car, or even when moving.

[Kim]

Mechanical issues may also be more concern for women who are worried about being stranded in an area they don't know - even if there are people to offer help, they may feel at risk in a way they don't when in a car, or even when moving.

That's a reasonable point.  I've always been rubbish at feeling at-risk in traditional 'scary' areas^[1].  It's public transport, taxis, nightclubs, sportsball crowds and things where I tend to feel at risk.  And much less so as I've achieved the invisibility of middle age.


_{[1] And I tend to deal with these using the two greatest personal safety innovations ever made:  The bicycle and the walkman.}

[Cudzoziemiec]

I've recently acquired some copies of Cycling magazine from the early '30s, and they discuss precisely this question; why do few women cycle? Their answer in a touring context seems to come down mostly to parental anxieties, particularly mothers'. Though at the same time, women are almost completely absent from these magazines. Mentioned in the very occasional race report, in articles by the contributor "Femina" (not weekly though, unlike "Wayfarer", F.T. Bidlake and various others) and once in a quote from Galsworthy's latest novel, but never in random articles. Every non-specific cyclist is a he, "the rider who looks after his machine will... " etc, and all the fiction* features 100% male characters; which is all pretty standard for the time, I suppose.

*Yes! Fiction in a cycling magazine. Mostly stories about bizarre events at club Christmas meets.