By Charles Pekow — In most of the world, women don’t cycle as much as men; this appears to be true in most countries and in high- and low-cycling environments. To get more women on two-wheelers, policymakers are going to have to directly address the issue.
So says “Beyond the Bicycle: Seeing the Context of the Gender Gap in Cycling”, an essay in the September issue of the Journal of Transport and Health.
“Feminist critiques suggest this gender gap reflects societal roles and values, yet there has been little empirical research on the differences in men’s and women’s cycling in the context of total travel,” the authors say.
They took a look at a national survey in New Zealand of 49,965 people conducted between 2012 and 2014, the age of which may limit the accuracy of their conclusions. While five percent of men cycled regularly, only two percent of women did. Women’s trips also averaged 12 to 17 percent less distance, among those to biked regularly or occasionally
“Better consideration of the social processes shaping travel is needed to create policy, institutions, programs and infrastructure that achieve the long-term goals of the transport system, such as increasing cycling and reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” the study concludes.
See https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221414052030075X
