On her bike : Why women won't ride

[Sette Budini]

Sure, but there are plenty of frogs mixing it up on the roads too. I was recently reminded of something that happened to me on beach rd in 2003 and the reason it was memorable was because I was female and it was quite rare to see a female "roadie" back then. Now, there's plenty.
Hence, i just don't get why the gender thing is still such an issue for some. We've already broken through that ceiling sisters!

[baudman]

Sure, but there are plenty of frogs mixing it up on the roads too. I was recently reminded of something that happened to me on beach rd in 2003 and the reason it was memorable was because I was female and it was quite rare to see a female "roadie" back then. Now, there's plenty.
Hence, i just don't get why the gender thing is still such an issue for some. We've already broken through that ceiling sisters!

I totally agree. But then, this article, and some posters and my SWMBO do not. But then, this article seems to continue to stereotype. But then...

[squeazasis]

Oh hell yeah!!
I would NEVER do a tri, all those people looking at my fat butt in lycra or a swimsuit etc etc
How can you wear that stuff it looks stupid...

A bit the same as I could never/I wish I had the guts to dye my hair pink. Seriously it's just hair/another form of clothes.
SO much pressure to look how everyone does on TV or all be the same, it's pretty sad. At the same time understandable (sort of)
There is also the people will think I can't afford a car issue too (which happens too) and the MASSIVE amount of peer pressure from the mums at school gate crowd (which thankfully I don't have to deal with)

I'll have to admit, I've considered next time I get a new job I might wait until I've had time to settle in with my colleagues before cycling to work, not out of concern at being thought to be unable to afford a car, and not for fear of the possibility of bike-hostile colleagues either, but simply because I don't find it easy to respond when people (including blokes) get freaked out at the idea of someone being fit enough to be capable of cycling a few suburbs (e.g. from Surrey Hills - which is near Balwyn for those who don't know - to Alphington for goodness sake!!) I guess it would take a brief response to show that you've heard them but quickly satisfy them so that they'll shut up or be happy to move on to another topic of conversation.... but that doesn't come easily to me. In one job I got enough carry-on (not negative, but questions from person after person) just because I was catching public transport to work, so even THAT is enough to grab people's attention!

[squeazasis]

Kinda inclined to agree with cp123. Why are the roads too dangerous for women. It's the same road, same traffic. If he can do it....
Are these women so meek in other aspects of their lives? I doubt it. I'm sure most of them drive, and some with a level of assertiveness (or outright aggression) that belies their "it's too dangerous to ride a bike" claims.

Anyway, the vast majority of cyclists who are injured on the roads are male!
(yes, i do understand population statistics, it;s a joke)

Yes, that part of the opening phrase came as a surprise to me! They just MIGHT be thinking of the difference in protective muscle mass/larger bone structure (although plenty of males are skinny enough, including teenagers who ride on roads!), but it seems far more likely that it is just an unthinking case of perceived female fragility, like how you hear about some parents who think that girls are more likely than boys to injure themselves while climbing trees/playing sport etc...... er, hello???

[squeazasis]

Kinda inclined to agree with cp123. Why are the roads too dangerous for women. It's the same road, same traffic. If he can do it....
Are these women so meek in other aspects of their lives? I doubt it. I'm sure most of them drive, and some with a level of assertiveness (or outright aggression) that belies their "it's too dangerous to ride a bike" claims.

Anyway, the vast majority of cyclists who are injured on the roads are male!
(yes, i do understand population statistics, it;s a joke)

Oh, and jokes aside, you would think that even if there were equal numbers of males and females riding with equal level of experience, if anything males on average would be more likely than females to sustain injuries!

[JAC]

Kinda inclined to agree with cp123. Why are the roads too dangerous for women. It's the same road, same traffic. If he can do it....
Are these women so meek in other aspects of their lives? I doubt it. I'm sure most of them drive, and some with a level of assertiveness (or outright aggression) that belies their "it's too dangerous to ride a bike" claims.

Anyway, the vast majority of cyclists who are injured on the roads are male!
(yes, i do understand population statistics, it;s a joke)

Oh, and jokes aside, you would think that even if there were equal numbers of males and females riding with equal level of experience, if anything males on average would be more likely than females to sustain injuries!

Why?

[squeazasis]

Kinda inclined to agree with cp123. Why are the roads too dangerous for women. It's the same road, same traffic. If he can do it....
Are these women so meek in other aspects of their lives? I doubt it. I'm sure most of them drive, and some with a level of assertiveness (or outright aggression) that belies their "it's too dangerous to ride a bike" claims.

Anyway, the vast majority of cyclists who are injured on the roads are male!
(yes, i do understand population statistics, it;s a joke)

Oh, and jokes aside, you would think that even if there were equal numbers of males and females riding with equal level of experience, if anything males on average would be more likely than females to sustain injuries!

Why?

I just thought females (assuming equal level of cycling experience) might ride more safely on average.... wouldn't know though, perhaps the difference is negligible.... and after all on the other side of the argument, people keep telling me that there are plenty of times when it's safer to ride faster!

[squeazasis]

When I did my first ATB last year (MSM), I was certainly struck by the small proportion of female cyclists out there..... it's not as if cycling 200 km in a day on a mostly flat course is exactly a superhuman achievement! (And I've gathered for the "250 km" the gender balance is even more disproportionate.) I gather that women tend to be far more likely than men to underestimate their capacity for physical things, rather than over-estimate, and not even just with lifting "heavy" objects! (An aside: I'm sure if women happened to be the physically stronger gender, but still with the same hormones, there wouldn't be all this self-perception of being weaker than they are!!) But aside from self-perception of inability to complete long distances, I'm guessing fewer women choose cycling as a form of exercise, favoring other exercise options instead. What would tend to be the main reasons for this?

[squeazasis]

My wife refuses to ride on the road, even with me riding a metre out to the right weilding a baseball bat and swearing at cars (ok...maybe THAT'S the reason she wont ride on the road )
But seriously - cycling here is portrayed as a dangerous pastime and that basically scares her. Even the prospect of riding through very quiet back streets to South Road with a 5m wide bike lane all the way to Beach Road where there is the dedicated bike lane is not good enough...and then this guy comes into the dance studio the other night with massive grazes down his arms from an accident he had ON THE BIKE PATH!!!

I can't win!

Excuse what may seem like a rant:
Something that bamboozled me after my accident was the idea from numerous people that I was supposed to never ride a bike again in my life, and that I was oh so amazingly brave to do so. My form of logic was to think in response, so am I now supposed to live by different rules from other people? It has to be admitted, probably most of the people I got this response from were women, I guess because amongst women for whatever reasons being fearful in general seems to be an acceptable norm.
In actual fact I did think road riding was very dangerous, but nothing had changed in that regard from one day to the next. And for myself, I did in fact feel terrified of traffic getting back to it, but I wasn't going to talk about it. So, being amongst cyclists in the past 18 months, it's been interesting for me to come to realise that road riding while not the safest of pastimes, is in fact not as dangerous as a lot of non-road-cyclists believe it to be (especially nowadays with so many bike lanes!)

[squeazasis]

Sure, but there are plenty of frogs mixing it up on the roads too. I was recently reminded of something that happened to me on beach rd in 2003 and the reason it was memorable was because I was female and it was quite rare to see a female "roadie" back then. Now, there's plenty.
Hence, i just don't get why the gender thing is still such an issue for some. We've already broken through that ceiling sisters!

I totally agree. But then, this article, and some posters and my SWMBO do not. But then, this article seems to continue to stereotype. But then...

What do some posters disagree with?

[baudman]

That gender doesn't matter.

I mean, it shouldn't. But the stats indicate more males than females riding. so why is that?

[squeazasis]

That gender doesn't matter.

I mean, it shouldn't. But the stats indicate more males than females riding. so why is that?

+1: there obviously is room for improvement still!

Off-topic: something that occurred to me recently in relation to male-dominated sports in their extremes: has anyone heard of any groups in Australia for female skateboarders? (I know I could just look it up on google.... and no I'm not saying I'm looking to try it, have left it a tad too late lol!)..... but my point is that AFAIK it seems to be an even more exclusively male sport than Australian Rules Football - ironically so, given that skateboarding, as with cycling doesn't involve intentional contact/collision with other people, therefore nothing to preclude both genders for partaking in it together. But only AFAIK, as probably many people are still not aware that women/girls play Aussie Rules, and I've noticed that referring to it tends to often produce giggles at the idea!

[weg]

Why women do ride, reactions they get and what would make them ride more. The (US) Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals has released its women's cycling survey summaries (as 3 pdfs 10, 18, 5MB). All US but quite broad.

We also heard from a group of women who consider biking a safer way to get
around. As between walking alone at night, riding the bus by themselves, or even
driving, they feel that they are safer when cycling and that they themselves are less
likely to cause injury to anyone else.

I'd agree with ^. I've often thought while riding at night that I wouldn't spend an hour or two walking the streets at night but riding is lovely (on a nice quiet route). Nice comment also from a Buddhist woman saying they find it a gentler way to travel and bike accidents cause less suffering.

[baudman]

Another "why women don't..." article from the US (and a vid). TL/DR is that it isn't based on gender, more on the role/economic/financial commonalities with most women, instead of men. (Work harder/less pay/most likely primary parent/etc).
http://www.grist.org/biking/2011-06-20- ... omy-stupid

Weg, will get onto those pdfs shortly.

[blybo]

Kinda inclined to agree with cp123. Why are the roads too dangerous for women. It's the same road, same traffic. If he can do it....
Are these women so meek in other aspects of their lives? I doubt it. I'm sure most of them drive, and some with a level of assertiveness (or outright aggression) that belies their "it's too dangerous to ride a bike" claims.

Anyway, the vast majority of cyclists who are injured on the roads are male!
(yes, i do understand population statistics, it;s a joke)

Oh, and jokes aside, you would think that even if there were equal numbers of males and females riding with equal level of experience, if anything males on average would be more likely than females to sustain injuries!

Why?

testosterone!