Last week I received an email containing the link to an intriguing story in Scientific American, titled How to Get More Bicyclists on the Road. According to the author, Linda Baker, "In the U.S., men’s cycling trips surpass women’s by at least 2:1. This ratio stands in marked contrast to cycling in European countries, where urban biking is a way of life and draws about as many women as men — sometimes more. In the Netherlands, where 27 percent of all trips are made by bike, 55 percent of all riders are women. In Germany 12 percent of all trips are on bikes, 49 percent of which are made by women."
Why such a wide discrepancy between the male-to-female ratios in the U.S. and Europe? Well, says Baker, for a number of reasons, women in general are less prone to taking risks than men are, and the perception is that cycling in U.S. cities is less safe than in European cities. This makes women an "indicator species," Baker writes, reflecting the relative bike-friendliness of a given community.
We don't know if the strong showing of women cyclists in Europe extends into the realm of touring outside the cities, but here in the U.S. the smaller number of female city cyclists does seem to correspond with the touring crowd — consider, for instance, that the membership of Adventure Cycling Association is 78 percent male, or a male-to-female ratio of greater than 3:1.
Do you think Baker's article is on the money, or are there other factors at work that she has overlooked? Could the fact that most bikes are designed for men's body proportions rather than to fit women enter into the equation? Maybe, but that still wouldn't explain the higher percentage of female cyclists in Europe. And, one way or the other, what do we need to do to get more women on bikes, and joining in the fun with Adventure Cycling?
Mickelson Trail photo by M. McCoy
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BIKING WITHOUT BORDERS is posted every Monday by Michael McCoy, Adventure Cycling’s field editor, and highlights a little bit of this or a little bit of that — just about anything, as long as it’s related to traveling by bicycle.
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I know it was a long time ago, but my Bikecentennial tours in 1976 (Golden Spokes East) and 1980 (TransAm) each had 7 males and 4 females. And 2 of those woman in 1980 came from Holland (as did one of the males).
ReplyDeleteAs to what to do? More outreaching, but maybe not in places you'd expect to find your typical tourist (because a typical tourist is probably already reading/viewing your information). I don't know what it costs to put ads on websites or other places, but putting one on an arts & crafts site might be good for awhile. I am just saying, that's all. In the meantime, I will retweet your tweets when I get see them.
.Stephen - NYC.