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Why women don’t cycle?

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  • June 11, 2018 at 12:32 pm #28610
    ManchesterRider

    Did you know that 75% of cyclists are male? 

    Cycling provides an opportunity to substitute the car for a healthier option. It doesn’t require fuel, it contributes to an active healthy lifestyle, and saves reduces the huge air pollution problem in the UK.

    I am trying to investigate why the gender imbalance exists in cycling in the UK, as in countries such as Germany and The Netherlands women cycle as much as men; furthermore, cycling is a popular mode of transport in these countries.

    So what do you think are the main reasons behind this? Some contributing factors that have emerged in my research are;
     

    Harrasment (verbal abuse, funny looks, sexual harrasment)
    Lack of confidence
    Fear of traffic
    Not wanting to break a sweat / potentially mess your hair etc
    Distance
    Weather
    Lack of cycle lanes
    hills
    Not knowing enough about bicycle maintence
    Bikes are too expensive, not sure where to get a 2nd hand one

    Would love to hear your views, please feel free to reply, the more detail the better!

    Hopefully my research can contribute to achieving a gender parity in UK cycling!

    Best wishes,

    George
    University of Manchester

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  • July 11, 2018 at 7:25 am #921371
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    Moonboots

    I strongly suggest you go

    I strongly suggest you go over the Pennines and talk to Queensbury Queens of the Mountain CC. They know a thing about getting women cycling and the things that stop them. They are are a club for all abilities and will probably have most of the answers you are seeking…

    July 10, 2018 at 1:51 pm #921369
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    fatsmoker

    For my wife, who won’t

    For my wife, who won’t commute 6 miles now, all of those below, linked into ones which are similar.  She lacks confidence because of traffic because there are poor cycle lanes.  Hills cause sweat. 

    Lack of confidence / Fear of traffic / Lack of cycle lanes
    Not wanting to break a sweat / hills

    potentially mess your hair etc
    Weather
    Not knowing enough about bicycle maintence

    She will happily go out with me and the kids on a leisure ride as long as it’s not too hilly. 

    July 10, 2018 at 1:11 pm #921367
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    yupiteru

    Well I have just contacted

    Well I have just contacted TDL Event Services and they say that around 1000 women took part in the Velothon Wales event, over all 3 distances – I think the total was about 8000 riders.

    Spoke to my teenage daughters and they thought that the Velothon was a race and didnt realise you could just pay and enter and I think this is part of the problem.  Its an image thing, most of the cyclist around here are young men on racing bikes with racing gear on, same as the Velothon and no doubt the same country wide.  Women see it as a sporting endeavour.

    Managed to persuade a woman neighbour to borrow her daughters mtb and come cycle camping with a few of us a couple of years back – she wasnt that keen on the cycling side of it but she did like sitting around the campfire getting pissed in the evening.  Problem was, she had a weak bladder and anyone who shared her tent would wake up soaked in her urine – how we laughed.  Thankfully she has moved.

    July 10, 2018 at 8:18 am #921365
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    OldRidgeback
    yupiteru wrote:
    I am a man and comments I’ve had from the women in work when I have cycled to work include:

    Doesnt it make you sweaty?

    Doesnt it make you tired?

    Doesnt it spoil your hair?

    I would be scared of the traffic.

     

    Also I was on the side of the road for Velothon Wales 2018 last Sunday for a good 5hrs and noticed that most  entrants were young white males but the number of female riders seemed higher this year, some obviously entered as a group or team.  Good to see more women taking part.

    Strange though that there were very few black male cyclists that passed me and I didnt see any black women for some reason?

    I have noticed more women out on the road around here (s Wales) in recent times, some cycling on their own which is not something I would have notices a few years ago.

    I have 2 teenage daughters who both have bikes and as we live right next to NCN 4 will cycle on there but they dont like the traffic.  Oh and I have bought them helmets but leave it to them to decide whether to wear them or not and they dont normaly bother mainly because they dont want to spoil their hair. 

    I dont want to start a helmet debate but I personally feel that the excercise benefits they get far outweigh the head injury risk.

    Cant blame then staying off the road though there are some right arsehole drivers around.

     

    My wife cycles to and from work on a regular basis. She does this even more frequently since she got a new bike to replace her ageing Specialized MTB, which had a few issues. She’s not a quick rider but enjoys bimbling along at steady speeds. I do notice a lot more woman riders in London now, some with full-on roadie gear and those with Pashleys at the other end of the scale.

    Where I live in S London there are a lot of black male cyclists on the usual array of bike types (but MTBs and hybrids seem more common), but not many black female cyclists I agree.

     

    July 10, 2018 at 7:21 am #921363
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    yupiteru

    I am a man and comments I’ve

    I am a man and comments I’ve had from the women in work when I have cycled to work include:

    Doesnt it make you sweaty?

    Doesnt it make you tired?

    Doesnt it spoil your hair?

    I would be scared of the traffic.

     

    Also I was on the side of the road for Velothon Wales 2018 last Sunday for a good 5hrs and noticed that most  entrants were young white males but the number of female riders seemed higher this year, some obviously entered as a group or team.  Good to see more women taking part.

    Strange though that there were very few black male cyclists that passed me and I didnt see any black women for some reason?

    I have noticed more women out on the road around here (s Wales) in recent times, some cycling on their own which is not something I would have notices a few years ago.

    I have 2 teenage daughters who both have bikes and as we live right next to NCN 4 will cycle on there but they dont like the traffic.  Oh and I have bought them helmets but leave it to them to decide whether to wear them or not and they dont normaly bother mainly because they dont want to spoil their hair. 

    I dont want to start a helmet debate but I personally feel that the excercise benefits they get far outweigh the head injury risk.

    Cant blame then staying off the road though there are some right arsehole drivers around.

    July 9, 2018 at 7:47 pm #921361
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    Stratman

    I wonder if there’s also

    I wonder if there’s also something more general about the distances folks traveL to work.  I grew up near Blackpool, and my Mum taught in a local secondary school.  She can’t drive, and so cycled every day, in ordinary clothes on a bike like a Raleigh Shopper, with a basket on the front.  The total distance would have  been a couple of miles, and so she didn’t worry about the issues mentioned.

    July 9, 2018 at 7:22 pm #921359
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    don simon fbpe

    Well, that escalated rather

    Well, that escalated rather quickly.

    Shovel it was then.

    July 9, 2018 at 1:20 pm #921357
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    LastBoyScout

    Update.

    Update.

    My wife has started cycling a bit more – brand new car got doored in the car park of the toddler dance class, so she’s now cycling there to prevent a recurrence. Little one absolutely loves it and wants to go further.

    My sister has considered cycle commuting, but ongoing treatment for a sciatic nerve problem is putting her off at the moment.

    July 9, 2018 at 10:57 am #921355
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    Lydia-Hines

    Maybe in many cases it’s just

    Maybe in many cases it’s just a simple thing like “I’ve got a car”. That’s one purchase that stops a lot of people from cycling.

    July 5, 2018 at 8:01 am #921353
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    CygnusX1
    Bier25 wrote:
    Perhaps a small part of the reason is that women are more willing to practice yoga？

    Please explain yourself, otherwise that seems like a facile sexist stereotype.

    I will give you the benefit of the doubt, and argue that propensity to engage in one activity (yoga) may well bear a rough inverse correlation to propensity to engage in another (cycling), but that doesn’t mean they are causative.

    However, digging a little deeper, one reason why women may not cycle but  do practice yoga is that the cycling can feel threatening and unsafe, whereas yoga doesn’t – but this reason was already covered on the survey.

    A more interesting question is, why don’t more men practice yoga? 

    July 5, 2018 at 7:13 am #921351
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    Bier25

    Perhaps a small part of the

    Perhaps a small part of the reason is that women are more willing to practice yoga？

     

    July 3, 2018 at 7:00 am #921349
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    matthewn5
    ConcordeCX wrote:
    It seems to me that this is the wrong place to ask this question. First, it’s predominantly men, second the women here do cycle. You should be asking the women who don’t cycle, and they’re probably not reading this site.

    THIS

    If you’re really doing university research, with all due respect, I wouldnt start here. Have a look at Rachel Aldred’s excellent work, look at her methodology, and try reproducing elements of that.

    My OH commutes from London to Hatfield. It would a 5 minute cycle to the station, but the traffic around the station is hideous, and the station crowded and awkward even as a pedestrian. She’d have to carry the bike up stairs, onto a train with no cycle spaces, then carry it over the bridge at Hatfield (there are at least lifts there). But the real problem is cycling from Hatfield station to her office: the New Town has been laid out for the convenience of motor cars, with fast dual carriageways everywhere, and although there are cycle tracks (divided pavements, essentially), the routes are indirect, interrupted and awkward.

    She likes coming out for a ride into town on a Sunday, loved the new segregated cycleways and cycles happily when she’s not being intimidated by drivers. But useful segregated tracks are rare in this country….

    June 23, 2018 at 10:58 pm #921347
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    MsG

    Timtak I think you mean vulva

    Timtak I think you mean vulva – the external genitalia? I agree more information available for women that there are different designs of saddles available could help.

    I’ve cycled for the last 2.5 years, been a runner for 5 years. Late starter with cycling (in my 40s). 

    I started cycling because I wanted to try and do a bike commute, and also because I enjoy exploring and you can cover more miles on a bike! Helmut hair doesn’t bother me, and I do have long hair.

    I commute  in most weathers (not ice) and do a commute twice a week which is 18 miles each way. When the evenings get lighter then I add on to the journey back to 25-30 miles if possible.

    The commute is on rural roads that aren’t really busy but the traffic is moving faster (40+mph) than in a town. There’s no street lighting either so had a bit of trial and error with getting a suitable light. The roads are in very poor condition, lots of potholes.

    What puts me off? Well the same as what actually stops my DH from cycling – idiot drivers! He’s very nervous and after some close encounters he’s very reluctant to go out now.

    I try not to let it bother me but sometimes it does get to you. I loathe roundabouts, people round here seem to treat stopping at them as optional. I hate shared use cycle paths, as others have written, the users behave unpredictably. I end up cycling so slowly to allow time for avoidance/braking etc that I prefer to take my chances with the road.

     

    June 22, 2018 at 7:06 am #921345
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    alanngarethh

    Women like to talk. (joke)

    Women like to talk[url=http://nulltheme.eu].[/url] (joke)

    June 20, 2018 at 1:48 am #921343
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    timtak

    Women have a vagina. Cutting

    Women have a vagina. Cutting to the chase.

    Perhaps the most important thing about improving cycling speed is to get into more aerodynamic torso-horizontal form so that your chest is not acting as a drag racing parachute to the wind.
    Cycling is about form. Good form is possible, if you have a very bendy back, to sit on your bottom and curl the top of your back over to get into an aerodynamic position, but by far the easiest way to get long and low is pivot around so that you are sitting on the place were, whatever sex you are, your bits, gonads (?), sex organs are.

    I think that hollow saddles can solve the pressure issues that arise but not everyone knows about, or at least uses hollow saddles, and most new bikes do not come with hollow saddles as standard. When women get to know about hollow saddles, they may be more into road cycling since supporting oneself  with that area of the body is even more fraught for them than it is for us, in my humble opinion, without first hand knowledge.

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