Cities are failing women on bikes, but we can fix it
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ส.ค. 2024
- Welcome Shifter Big Stories, sponsored by Riese & Müller, a series of videos delving into bigger, and deeper issues around urban cycling and bike commuting.
We're looking at why, in almost every city in the world, fewer women than men ride bikes for transportation, why this matters, and what we can do about it.
A big thanks to Riese & Müller for sponsoring this year's Big Stories. In this video, I was riding the Riese & Müller Packster 70 - it's so fun and smooth to ride, and it hauls huge loads easily: www.r-m.de/en-pt/bikes/packst...
Thanks to Bishops Family Cycles in Victoria, B.C.: www.familycycles.ca/
Thanks to Cloud eBikes in Vancouver, B.C.: cloudebikes.ca/
In addition to those who appear in the video, I also want to shout-out Karen Labree of the Cities, Health and Active Transportation Research Lab in Victoria, B.C. for her invaluable help.
Thanks to Cailynn Klingbeil, not only for co-presenting this video, but for contributing much research and writing. She has a great newsletter about getting outdoors: gooutside.substack.com/
Thanks to Josh Sandulak for his videography and editing: www.joshsandulak.com/
Shifter Memberships are here! If you'd like some bonus content while also supporting this channel, please consider becoming a member: / shifter632
0:00 Meet Sukey
0:52 Defining the problem
3:30 The bicycle's historical importance to women
5:41 Barriers facing women cycling in cities today
7:51 Why some cities have higher proportions of women riding
9:14 A potential solution: "Modalities of care."
11:22 Visiting a city that's making a difference
Sources:
www.canada.ca/en/public-healt...
velocanadabikes.org/gender-eq...
www.itdp.org/2022/07/06/cycli...
ecf.com/news-and-events/news/...
theconversation.com/from-walk...
99percentinvisible.org/episod...
www.sciencedirect.com/science...
www.vox.com/videos/2017/6/2/1...
www.cyclinguk.org/article/cam...
www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...
www.independent.co.uk/voices/...
lcc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads...
www.smh.com.au/opinion/male-c...
siliconvalleytrails.pbworks.co...
activetravelstudies.org/artic...
www.itf-oecd.org/sites/defaul...
www.theguardian.com/environme...
Cycling for Sustainable Cities, edited by Ralph Buehler and John Pucher
How Cycling Can Save the World by Peter Walker
Revolutions: How Women Changed the World on Two Wheels by Hannah Ross
Urban Revolutions: A Woman's Guide to Two-Wheeled Transportation
Buy my book Frostbike: The Joy, Pain and Numbness of Winter Cycling: rmbooks.com/book/frostbike/
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I am a 55 yearold grandmother that must ride my bike everywhere. For groceries 54 kms, drinking water 9 kms, post cancer treatments 110 kms. I managed 126 kms in one day on ecargo bike. I Love every minute of my adventure.
@@elizabethraworth64 wonderful.
I love this! I will not be able to drive at some point soon, so this is great to see. I want a world where grandmas on bikes is not out of the ordinary.
@@ehoops31 my cargo bike is set up to carry my 2 grankids as well. So fun fun.
Fantastic! Keep going!
Go Grandma.👵
Shoutout to the women I see riding ebikes, cargo bikes and road bikes in Melbourne, and those all over the world. You rock!
I ride my radwagon 4 with my grandkids or huge hauls of groceries. 1300 km in 2 monthes. So much fun.
thank you, it's so hard in my country. ass holes a plenty and no infrastructure for bikes. car ppl also hate us and think it's fun to run us over.
I don't know any woman that bikes to work aside from me.
I'm a tall gal and while I've never broken a mirror I suspect it would be satisfactory if I did since police don't do anything about serious crimes and I never heard of them bother to catch a biker.
@@NeverTooTiredToRideTwoTyres ❤️👋❤️
One thing I think about (as a guy) is how bike infrastructure often shunts riders into dark, poorly lit out of the way areas. As a large scary looking guy they don’t bother me but i hesitate to recommend them to a woman, young person or elderly person.
ikr, am hesitant of them because of rabid stray dogs.
I'm a tall gal so so I can can look down on most men in my country so I've rarely had any issues but friends haven't been as lucky. Men pulled knives on my male friends and they didn't fight back because they knew they wouldn't be rword and gave their wallets and phones, meanwhile my female friends didn't wait to find out, they reacted violently then fled.
@@HisameArtwork just that bike lanes are places where you have to be concerned about encountering violence is the problem. I am nearly 2M tall so generally I feel confident anywhere but I have a few sketchy encounters. When bike lanes tunnel under roads seems to be a common problem spot in my city.
The share of women biking is also a good indication on the overall quality of the bike infrastructure. In your diagram at 2:53 the four major German cities (which aren't even the most bike friendly places in the country) stand out not only with an almost equal share (Berlin and Hamburg even have more women than men on bikes!), but also _far_ more cyclists overall. Because it's not "men don't care about safety". It's "of that tiny group, that doesn't care about safety, the vast majority are men".
For students those 7% of boys biking to school don't really make things any better. Hamburg recently had a study reporting *72%* of all students biking or walking to school. No, not for the city; for the whole metro area.
Yeah, only the most daredevil cyclists will ride wherever it is most dangerous, and those people tend to be young childless males, not moms carrying two kids on their bike. I'd love to have the sort of cycling infrastructure that encourages people of all walks of life to ride their bikes.
Have they torn down all the interconnected parks in Germany? I use to live in Rüsselsheim and we would go for hours through the parks on our bikes.
very well said - people ask why having these conversations is important - THIS is why because when we provide for different groups in our infrastructure we improve it for everyone!
Biking in NYC I'd be surprised if someone didn't say they were verbally or physically threatened by someone in a car regardless of gender. Obviously still in favor of modality of care biking infrastructure it will help everyone.
Sure, this is true for all of us who ride, but for us women, it's also harassment and threats of a sexual nature as well. And not just drivers, but other people on bikes too. The experiences are not the same.
This is the entirety of metropolitan Australia
I was verbally and physically attacked by 4 women in an SUV.
@@SwiftySanders I am so sorry you had to experience that. And POC experience unique dangers on bikes as well. I was just wanting to clarify for the commenter that - as the video explains - the lived experiences of diverse riders needs to inform infrastructure design and supporting policies.
Wishing you safe rides in the future.
@@catherinepeele5217 Thanks! I appreciate that. I wish you all safe rides in the future as well.
I ride my bike everyday for comuting and my wife recently started biking too and i started to notice that drivers follow her much closer and close pass her more often then they do with me. It makes her a lot more scared to ride certain routes because she worried about the drivers. I hadnt realy ever thought that it was related to her gender but now that ive seen this video im almost certain
I'm a man so I don't experience things the same way but it is true. When my partner is walking alone drivers cut through the crosswalk and don't give her as much space. When she is biking drivers are more aggressive or just rude. And I'm sure I don't see the half of it when we are riding together.
@@crashzila I will stop at the curb and force a driver to pass me if they try to tailgate.
And if some dumbfuck wants to try to outwait me, they can try.
A driver has to be a world-class asshole to tailgate a bicycle.
There's no gender gap in cycling frequency in countries with decent bike infrastructure. Just build bike lanes so women (and everyone) feel safe riding a bike.
I totally agree. For the most part this is not a sexist issue. It is a safety issue. For a number of reasons, women put a higher emphasis on safety.
@@rudycandu1633 I agree that it's a safety issue, but we can also acknowledge that it affects women and parents disproportionately. I would ride more if I could bring my kids with me, but it isn't safe enough to ride with them where I live.
Loved the video, I've seen so many more people on bikes in Victoria, especially mums with their kids on the bike with them, or following along on their own bikes. The city has made huge improvements and now over 90% of Victorians live within 500 metres of a safe, dedicated cycling route. An interesting thing I've noticed is that as the infrastructure improves, more people are riding without helmets. I think that acts as a great indicator of how safe people feel riding on these routes.
Also, shout out to Bishop's Family Cycles @ 6:54, awesome local bike shop!
Bishop's Family Cycles helped me out on this video, and I was so impressed with their open and welcoming approach to cycling. It's a great shop.
The bike helmet wearing is more from fear conditioning and indoctrinating from schools, parents, and governments, besides laws in Australia. It's less about actual safety or making decisions rationally about it. Disable that propaganda machine, and it's the happy 1970s all over again with no one having a bike helmet and more people riding.
Well maintained Public toilets on bike paths. Men are more inclined to find a tree if caught short.
Places to fill water bottles for all would be nice too. Few days ago I was out biking to my doctor, it was 38c and humid, I ran out of water before I even got there. It was a mere 6km ride but I only had 1 water bottle cage on my bike. I had to argue with a local public library to bring my bike inside (Which in Canada you are allowed to use a bike as a mobil aid, same rules as a wheelchair and I do) just to get more water. Carrying multiple water bottles is often something I hear as an "excuse" to not bike somewhere, if we had multiple public bottle filling stations in parks and at public buildings like libraries it would help curb that need to carry multiple bottles.
Good point
Important subject, thank you.
My dental hygienist rides regularly to work. She said to me, "Why can't they make it easy?"
Why not, indeed?
Because it would diminish spending on transportation which would destabilize the economy!
Nevermind that all that spending would then go to good things, such as having fun.
@MufferNl Ahhh,.Yes. The great bicycle conspiracy. Too many cargo bikes and trucking dies.
@BartAnderson_writer I too,would like to ride a childs plaything in traffic. Why can't my bigwheel be on the highway 😫 ? Why can't I drive on The sidewalk?
@@bruceclark5627 thinking bikes are child's plkaythings is a very american perspective and shows your ignorance. Also the first roads in this country were made for pedestrians, bikes and carriages. Before cars were even invented.
@GangplankPhilly we also used leeches for medical purposes, is it my American ignorance that says that's a bad idea?
Thank you for this video. I'm a woman bike commuter myself, so I'm living this. I started bike commuting a year ago - mostly just for 1-5 last mile distances when boosted with public transit.
I was honestly a very anxious cyclist - it didn’t help that bike infrastructure can be patchy here. But I’ve grown a lot - I joined group rides and made bike friends, and through them, I became more comfortable and realized how much I want to ride like them. They're my mentors and heroes, and I've finally submitted to n+1 - I got a new bike in hope of expanding my range beyond limited last mile transportation.
I'm still learning: I still struggle with lingering anxiety over danger/risk, being more assertive (though I've become way better at taking the lane now!), bike repair ignorance, and attempting to find the best & safest routes. But the implications on my mobility has been amazing and empowering. All my life, I've been restricted due to lack of a license or car, but now my social life, confidence, and basic ability to just get places and do things without relying on merely transit, walking, carpool, or rideshare has skyrocked.
Bike freedom! My brother was a person who biked to school--I biked occasionally and have always loved it. One thing that truly helps is just having a large enough critical mass of folks riding together--so the more infrastructure we get, the more people who ride, the safer it will be for women.
It's incredible and frustrating that we are still grappling with women being expected to be the primary caretakers in their households, and how drastically this impacts travel on any given day. Biking is easy when we can just sling a simple pannier onto our rear rack and go about our business, but when the burden of transporting kids and chores fall disproportionately to only one person in a household that's an inequity we need to work harder to correct at a personal AND societal level.
watch "Motherload", a documentary about moms and cargo bikes!
I think you want to say that having kids prevents you from biking?
Japanese has a word "mama chariot" for a type of bike that often has kid's seats attached. It's totally possible to bike with small kids on your bike and later small kids on their bike - if you have the infrastructure, even if it is, like in Japan, aimply the lack of car infrastructure because fo too narrow streets.
@@ashleychristenson4823ooh is it on TH-cam?
A woman just needs to buy a $4000 cargo ebike with maintenance costs that rivals a car. The guy, on the other hand, can buy a $400 fixie that has virtually no maintenance. Problem solved.
@@newttella1043 The price of cargo bikes is pretty high, thats true.
An E-Bike and a trailer for kids are cheaper and almost as good.
But a cargobike never has maintenance costs that even remotely approach a car.
Lol I love the opening because biking is shockingly fast compared to walking
yeah it's like 4 times as fast, and way easier than running
@@AwesomeSheep48 Depends on your body and bike. I'm a fast walker and a slow biker, so can count more on 2.5x walking speed, sometimes 3x. I've seen it said that the average Dutch bike speed is around 12 km/hour or 8 MPH, a lot slower than the 20 MPH that some road bikers can hit. Mass biking is going to be on the slower end of things: people riding cheap heavy bikes, with upright posture, and no helmets.
As a German woman watching this, my immediate reflex was "that doesn't sound right", because women on bikes are EVERYWHERE. Turns out, in the graphs shown at 2:50 min, we are actually pretty equally represented on our bikes here in Germany.
Bad infrastructure here mainly leads to age gaps. Kids and elderly don't really cycle in the cities (aside from purely recreational tours).
In my german city a lot of children and some elderly also ride their bikes, but I live in one of the cities with pretty good bike infrastructure, at least compared to other german cities.
Its no match to any dutch city though.
I ride my bike all over, but my main fear is leaving my bike locked outside. Anyone can steal a bike in uder a minute. The other fear is dude in big lifted trucks that blow black smoke in your face.
Yes, I hate the black smoke.
I love those old timey suffragettes on their bikes. They were badasses.
Back then, they were constantly mocked and ridiculed.
I've seen many caricatures from that time where they are depicted with pipes and big cigars as part of their "manly" demeanor
A lot of suffragettes were lesbians.
Like, just to be clear about the lack of influence of the sponsor in the content is that the media increases bike sales. Which is great because it means they also have an interest in ideologically challenging the disparity of women's cycling.
I'm excited about more of this style of video, glad for the shift to a higher quality content!
Yeah I feel influenced to ride my bike thinking about music videos like The Big Moon “Your Light”, shows like Call the Midwife that show doctors taking bikes through the city to help people. So small but so impactful.
I used to go to high school by bicycle (late 70’s - early 80’s), I don’t remember if any girls also commuted by bicycle but I believe it was very few back then, the cycling infrastructure here in Montreal has improved a lot since then.
Thank you so much for the video! This topic has been on my mind recently. I learned a few weeks ago of an all women's gravel race in a neighboring state. Lots of climbs, not my fave, but the organizers are doing everything to encourage women into the sport. They are providing a mechanic if your bike has issues, they are providing a SAG car support, a food booth... basically you just bring your bike. I was so impressed that I wanted to be a part of it, climbs and all. I want this to succeed and see more events that break barriers that prevent women from participating as well as encouraging to take on challenges. Thanks again for bringing up and starting this discussion.
Go Sukey, you're a legend 🥰🚴 Hopefully with more separated bike infrastructure there will be more riders male & female.
I am a regular user of the downtown Victoria bike valet - love it!
I have a cargo trike from Bunch. It seats 6 toddlers, or a couple of bigger kids and whatever stuff I need to haul. Its empowering, fun to ride, and makes for super fun memories with my kids. I feel plenty safe driving in our small town even without bike lanes. The country roads are a bit more concerning but that doesn't stop me in good weather during the day. There is an awesome documentary to watch that came out a few years ago called Motherload that talks all about women and bicycles. I loved it!
I think part of the reason women need more protected infrastructure is that drivers are just more aggressive towards women. From my personal experience, multiple women have told me they cannot be assertive even when walking across a cross walk, because drivers will assume they are going to wait and try to get through first. As a man I almost never have this issue at the same cross walks. I often step out to force cars to yield to me, and cars generally stop and give me the right of way. My wife on multiple occasions has almost been hit in a crosswalk even when pushing a stroller, which again has never happened to me.
I can imagine constantly being in these situations when you are sharing a road with cars with only paint suggesting that drivers give you space.
From what I have heard, at least here in the UK, women are quite a bit *less* likely to be close-passed while on a bike than men. I think the kind of angry driver who is wont to drive aggressively around cyclists tends to be more offended (threatened?) when they see a male choosing to ride a bike instead of drive - especially if they are in Lycra.
These are often the kind of male drivers who associate their cars with their masculinity, so it isn’t too surprising that they are angered when seeing male cyclists, as it is in effect like seeing someone questioning the validity of their manhood. The same kind of person who feels threatened when they see a man in a dress.
@@Aethid wasting your time, this person had no concept of reality. they believe what they're told to believe.
The published research I've seen over the years has found that drivers give female-presenting cyclists more room when they pass. drianwalker.com/overtaking/overtakingprobrief.pdf
Yes but also no. Women tend to be more anxious in general thus tend to be less assertive - note this is because they live in a world that is inherently more dangerous to them because they are smaller and physically weaker than men - thus drivers are get confused about whether they are yielding to the driver or whether they are crossing and the driver should yield to them.
@@agilemind6241 that's really just a chicken or egg argument. The point is drivers break the law and rules of the road pretty flippantly when it comes to pedestrians who are women. Doesn't matter if women have often yielded to them in the past, the rule is to stop for pedestrians in a cross walk.
How can they feel safe doing a whole trip in a painted bike lane if they don't feel safe in the most common painted infrastructure, a crosswalk.
About once a month, I (a woman) get some idiot shouting at me while riding a bike. Some of them just do it startle me. Because it’s fun I guess? Mansplaining on the road is aslo a pain. I don’t care about your great helmet, yes I check my chain regularly, yes I do know I can cross now.
In our city in UK instead of on road segregated cycle paths, they've routed cycling through woods and very isolated places. Very pretty on a weekend with families but rather isolated and a bit scary other times. After dark I'd never use the main cycle path into the city centre.
I’ve commuted for many years to work on my bike. There are few commuters where I live, most are road bike riders. As a woman, I think you have to be resilient and determined to ride your bike because no one encourages you and many question why your riding when it’s hot, cold or raining. It’s too bad people are that way, they are really missing out!
The walls of a car give a sense of security. That's why people in cars are aggressive (no repercussions) and why women who fear harassment have a hard time giving up the "safety" of a car. Stop the culture of harassment and things will even out.
eh, dunno about where you are but where I am women drivers are just as bad as men drivers, they seem to hate other women who bike because they are skinny and doing exercise, they rant about them with a passion.
I am glad to see that you have Riese & Müller as a sponsor! True great bike brand.
I know to stay away now.
@@cccpkingu Why? Not all advertising is bad, it's not like Shifter is "selling out", as there's no conflict of interest here, and R&M is a reputable company that make good products.
Cycling I've found to be an actually great option at night since I can go down streets where I'd usually be harassed or creeped on at speeds where I don't have to worry. Similar to why women tend to drive. I also see a lot of women cycling around where I am which might help to normalize it whereas I find the more sporty cultures to lean to men.
In rural areas, I find cycling at night to be safer than during the day because modern taillights are impossible to miss, especially in flashing mode; and the roads are quieter.
In bike-developed cities, it is not a gender-issue. But if the city has underdevoped bike-infrastructure, it will be a "macho" thing and they have to fight with crazy car drivers and so on. Most other men and women don't want to deal with that for obvious reasons. So there has to be a certain level of comfort, safety and practicality, to get everyone on board with cycling. Ranging from bike-lanes and separated bike-roads, safe underpasses or pedestrian/bicycle-bridges, safe bike-parking and accessible bike-storage at home.
Yeah, as another comment said, I think the main thing is that when biking is unsafe, very few people bike at all, and those who do are highly risk-tolerant (if not risk-seeking) and biased toward athletic men.
Very good point. I glanced over it by just calling it macho, but you formulated it much better. Thank you!
Around where I live in England the progress on protected bike infrastructure is painfully slow. It’s really a mish mash of shared paths and lower traffic neighbourhood roads. For many primary routes between our next largest towns they are mainly on busy roads. It’s just not safe, forcing cyclists either to take their chances with their lives or finding a long route around.
No wonder young women don’t want to ride to school or work.
Victoria has one other semi-permanent bike valet location: Hillside Mall. It doesn't get a ton of use, but with more publicity it might get more and not risk getting cut as it's an initiative by the mall rather than local government.
On the topic of women not having time to cycle, that's something else that should be addressed in addition to what the Professor was talking about. The overburdening of women with domestic labour is something we still have not sufficiently addressed.
100%. This video goes hand-in-hand with other, deeper topics about domestic labor inequality, misogyny, and sexual harassment. Some of the comments on this thread prove that people in the cycling community have a lot more learning to do.
Love your videos, Tom, and a much needed discussion on women and cycling. My partner can confirm she gets harassed more when biking, while the full time bike valet in Victoria is a great idea! Something we could use in Toronto!
NA bike commuting shouldn’t be the adrenaline rush that it is.
Totally. The whole reason I biked to work for so long is because from where I lived it was the most chill way to get to work. I could take a back route on tree covered streets and avoid all the traffic. After I moved my new route included a long stretch of riding on the sidewalk of a busy road so I gave it up. Not on purpose, it just ended up happening. I didn't need the "rush" of getting in conflicts with aggressive drivers trying to shave 5 seconds off of their morning commute.
This young Sukey has a great attitude. What a great and wholesome role model to teen girls. 👏
Great topic and have come to appreciate Shifter more and more as a critical advocacy platform for practical cycling and improving city life for all.
This is my favorite video of yours. Thank you for bringing up this issue. It’s absolutely a thing and it’s so hard for men to understand how we feel. A book that covers this topic in great detail is Invisible Women. Check it out if you have a chance. Suke is wise beyond her years and is set for success in life. Big hugs to Kaitlyn. So great to see her on screen. Thank you for your work, Tom. You’re my hero.
I love riding my bike but it is a bit scary. I find that male drivers in particular tend to rage at me more and not stop for me when I’m crossing even when pressing the crossing light . Also while I live my e-bike and eventually would like a cargo bike as a shorter person I loose my balance often and get hurt a lot (which could be improved with better cycling roads
I mean it makes sense (even putting everything else aside) for places where bike infrastructure is bad and/or non-existent, as women are less likely to take risks than men are. It’s the same reason women in general cause fewer severe car crashes.
Thanks for this! I am a new cyclist and I named my freedom machine Susie B. after Susan B. Anthony. :)
A fantastic video. The production quality and storytelling has reached a new level. As a bike infrastructure advocate the topic of gender equality is paramount. Sharing this with family and friends
Glad that you mention The Netherlands as one of the exceptions. No one here would recognise any of your statements 😅
don't you even have more women than men on bikes (like we have in Northern Germany)?
@@kailahmann1823 Yes, women are a majority on bicycles!
At school and student age there is no difference, but when people start to work, men are slightly more career minded and women more aimed at convenience, especially when they get kids. So women have more things to do that are local, and need less car use.
@@kailahmann1823 Japan too.
Great presentation. A lot of useful information to keep in mind and even share.
Male. Fulltime dad of a [female] toddler. GSD owner. Buffalo, NY. I take my daughter out ever day that isn’t rainy to get her used to riding. But there is no infrastructure here. No bike share equity building. Most riding is just plain dangerous for us. We have a couple of advocacy groups working hard to make the changes that we need on our streets. But it is super slow going.
Considered moving to a more bike centric locality.
I'm on the same boat. I have two kids and would love to ride to school rather than depending on the unreliable school bus service, but there's no safe way to do so and I'm not going to risk their lives.
Another excellent video! Thanks Tom. I'm in Victoria and see a lot of what you commented on. The infrastructure, the bike valet especially, and many other small changes are making it better and better. I regret that I was a few years too late to become a "cargo-bike dad." There's so much further to go though. The automated bike counts are fascinating. On the one hand they're disappointing because they don't show massive year-over-year gains, but it's clear that when a new route is created (Fort St., for example) the counts in that area go up noticeably. As more routes become practicable, the routes with the automated counters are no longer the pinch-points that most people on bikes funnel through, so even level numbers on those counters suggests steady growth.
thanks for this video! really gives a good explanation of my feeling on why i bike and where i feel like i can bike.
Another obstacle to women and girls biking is going to bike shops which are staffed only by men, some of whom tend to talk down to women or only care about the racing cyclist, etc. it would be great to see local bike shops cater to women more, and to the casual rider.
"to the casual rider."
Bit of a chicken and egg problem there. Unsafe roads -> few people bike -> mostly risk-taking male enthusiasts -> bike shops that cater to such men.
Safe roads -> most people bike -> most common bike is even named after women riders.
So it's up to getting more women to start working at bike shops.
Good to see this issue adressed. Keep up with the good work 👍🏻
This was a really great video! I’ve been watching your channel for a while now, and I’m super excited for this new style of videos you’re doing.
Japan has very little bike-only infrastructure, I don't think mothers are financially supported, and biking to work isn't that common. But in the reverse of "bike paths to downtown", it's pretty safe and easy to do the 3/4 of trips that are under 4 km in length, thanks to the high density, narrow slow streets, or wide sidewalks/multi-use paths on fast streets. And kids are encouraged to start being independent for errands and school from like age 5 or 6, so little time spent hauling kids around once they've started going to school.
As for the network, it's already there, simply the streets. The local streets that people walk, bike, or drive slowly in, or the bigger streets that most people bike on the sidewalk along, either way protected from fast cars.
Great episode!
Lot of good points here, which to me seem like universal problems faced by all genders so I kind of take issue with a company with a vested interest in selling cargo bikes to a specific target demographic. To me, it seems like there just hasn't been a cargo "bike boom" yet which I dont think will happen until we have safe streets for ALL road users, to me it's kind of a chicken and egg scenario where you cant have one without the other first and in my honest opinion the best way to push for safe streets is what the Sukey said at the end "I dont really think of gender when it comes to cycling".
My wife was nervous on Ottawa's sometimes busy pedestrian cycle paths, so we bought a tandem 20 years ago. We now have an Etandem which shortens trip times and can carry a lot of groceries. They are more difficult to park however, and since Ottawa does not have any secure valet parking downtown there is an increased risk of theft.
I've seen women give up cycling because of aggressive male drivers, in my own experience 98% of aggressive drivers I've had to deal with on the road while commuting on my bike are men.
Ive experienced a even mix of both genders over the last 20 years
Maybe not 98%, but definitely a lot more.
Complete anecdote here, I acknowledge, but my wife- who got a bike at the same time as myself so she could cycle the short distance to her work- had to give up due to unsafe cycling conditions near schools. In our area of California, school traffic and the roads near schools tend to be very unfriendly to pedestrians and cyclists, with bike lanes taken over by pulled-over cars and the roads full of still-waking, often distracted, maybe agitated and running late drivers. Most of those drivers, as you'd expect from persisting gendered parenting norms, are women. My wife got struck by a distracted mother and probably won't ride again because of it. I'm familiar with male a-holes in white Dodge Rams, but distracted drivers are also highly dangerous and it makes me think twice about cycling past schools during peak hours. I think this just has more to do with if the infrastructure is good and safe, or if it forces cyclists to constantly meet drivers on drivers' terms, and when it's the latter, the people most likely to take on the risks of cycling are, well, people like me apparently.
I've dealt with extremely nasty women drivers as well.
My solutions have been taking less busy residential streets
and at ALL intersections giving EVERY driver right of way.
No matter what a driver says or does, waving, honking, speaking, gesturing,
I force EVERY driver to go first and clear EVERY intersection before I continue.
I have outwaited drivers by several seconds or by several minutes. I don't care. I force them to go first.
AND, have mirrors on BOTH handles. Watching drivers behind you is a literal lifesaver.
There's a "Blondie" song that this makes me think of on "Eat to the Beat".
Nowadays, in European culture, I have never seen stigma against the gender of cyclists. Every time I see people cycling with kids on different bike attachments, they are all men.
Cars intimidate cyclists... Gender do not matter, and if there is a driver that harass women, "he" will do it if she's on a bike or by foot, bad people are not picky with transportation methods.
The main reason why there is more men cycling in my view is because of two things: 1. Men develop muscle faster, making it easy on physical activity's; 2. Men take more risk, as we know men die more than women because men get into risky situations more often, and cycling today is still a dangerous activity.
I don't even feel like there should be a separation between cyclists genders, women want the same as man do regarding cycling infrastructure, there are differences in bikes physiognomy and such and bikes shops care for that, but regarding riding around,... we all want the same...
great video! love seeing the more in depth videos and the focus on such an underdiscussed issue
cheers guys, this was a really good video. Very cool to see you making these new Big Stories videos :)
I'm feeling lucky right now in Waterloo Ontario. Is it perfect? No. But I'm feeling glad that I've experienced little harassment from drivers. Maybe it's because I'm in my 40s, maybe it's because I'm a larger woman, but I haven't felt that intimidation from being female. If you're a polite and courteous rider, you receive a lot of respect back. If I sit and consider the number of riders I see, there are probably are more men on bikes but not by much
i absolutely love this new direction for the channel. Thanks for your work!
One issue I've encountered is a lack of practical yet still chic clothing made for women. Men get all kinds of pants that are good for cycling and look passable for work, when I tried finding something similar for women I didn't find ANYTHING. Yet women are under greater pressure to look presentable at all times. I like going fast and therefore don't want to ride an upright bicycle at 10 km/h to be able to dress nicely for work without looking disheveled, yet this seems to be the assumption otherwise there would be the kind of pant I am talking about (for example what I have found for men are the Lululemon ABC pants).
@BS-xs7jb when enough women spend money on this,the market will meet the demand. A simple answer would be in the form of a question,when will they start making nice bike packing gear for unicycles?
@BS-xs7jb There's endless athletic wear for women. REI, Lululemon, Under Armor...
I appreciate the attention on this subject. I like to give shoutouts of encouragement to other non-male riders & men with children. They kind of face similar societal issues as woman as not the norm.
I think a good follow up video would be analysis of whether cars are necessary to have children. Is that woman going to start driving once she delivers her child?
Great video. This data point, gender balance in cycling, is such an easy to understand stat and objective to bring to city governments. And not that difficult to stand at a popular bike lane and make some tick marks. Women in government have been fighting for equal representation for years so a message like "for every 100 cyclists only 17 were women" should really compelling for them.
In my opinion it is all a question about the commuting abilities in cities, the distances and the safety. In some countries the bicycle availability might be also an issue. But as long as cities are planned and built with a focus on cars, there will hardly be any people who use bicycles for their everyday journeys.
Love this series, keep it up 😊
I really like how you covered this topic, there are still far too many barriers to women in all facets of our society. A few times it felt like the script read was "robotic", but I really liked the video and hope you keep it up!
making it safe and easy for everyone will help close the gender gap
my ninja, what? 😂
Love this video, would like to see more on this topic.
The more bike videos i watch the sadder i get that we are almost always the exception in the netherlands. Yes that means there are examples for the rest of the world but the gap in many areas are so big its hard to figure out for other places how to get there. This is a perfect example here more females use bicycles than males for indeed complex reasons. Good to see some of the money i give to R&M for my bicycles not only puts a smile on my face if i ride them but also supports videos like this.
Amazingly insightful wisdom from that young Calgarian.
We are taught to be afraid. Afraid of undertaking physical activity, afraid of the weather, afraid of hills, afraid of being out after dark, afraid of doing things by ourselves, afraid of getting sweaty. Its all bullshit. Anyone who yells at me gets a mouthful back.
This is absolutely part of it. Women are socialized from a young age to be overly careful and to not take up space. I have to fight both of those things every time I ride.
Keep giving them the mouthful they deserve. 👏
Well you haven't absorbed you've been taught very well! 🤣
same, I'm still the only woman I know that bikes to work.
It's not easy, you gotta be ready for a fight unfortunately. Either stray dogs or assholes. I've chased down both.
Edit: I've never kicked down a mirror like my husband has but drivers are more likely to try and kill men than women. He has been run over by a tall truck who thought would be funny to sweep him off the street, but actually hit him. After that event gloves are off. Good manners don't deter bullying and murderers. Now he kicks wannabe murderers mirrors and leaves them stuck in traffic.
@@BelindaMurphy-s1v 💕💗💕
Great video as always
Excellent video topic to bring to your channel Tom. Kudos to the team that put this together with you!, Access to mobility matters, perception of safety matters, and weird old boys clubs gate keeping the community need to go. Cycling is for everyone.
I am beyond happy to see how many ladies are road biking, mountain biking when out on my rides it is a huge improvement from when I first started biking years ago. But alone that isn't cycling. Normalizing cycling for us all as just a thing you do to get around helps everyone feel comfortable, safe, accepted. Making those strides benefits us all especially those that might have felt marginalized prior.
Quite a bit to think about, a bunch I never considered. Great video.
Great video talking about a very important problem!
That B-roll music in the first half sounds nearly identical to the suspense music of the Korean TV show: Heart Signal. I love it!
Great video and very important subject!
Great video, Tom, very informative. I can pretty much send this to our city hall as guide on how to get their behinds moving and how to do it, instead of ordering 1.000 studies that will not be implemented any time soon.
A suggestion: Maybe think of building a website that uses your videos as a guide or story for different target groups on how to start riding, planning and building infrastructure, get more confidence, finding cycling routes, implementing bikes in one's daily routine, ... . There are many aspects for different people and your video-library already covers many of those. Give it some curation and I'm sure it can help and inspire people and policy makers worldwide with some good factual storytelling.
That "care transport" might be a big part of the Japanese women biking. The housewife model is strong there, so there are a lot fo women biking their small kids to somewhere. That is why there is the word "mama chari" (mother chariot) fora certain type of bikem which often has kid's seats attached.
And of course that there are a lot of small streets where there are nearly no cars so you don't feel threatened.
As a smaller than average woman, a big barrier is that the e-bike rentals are too big for me. They’re often made for a typical male rider. (Lowering a seat post doesn’t help if the geometry is for a larger person.)
Gender has nothing to do with it. I quit riding on roads in the US years ago as it was too dangerous for both my bike (poor roads) but also because of outright hostility and inattentiveness found in most drivers. It finally reached the point where I replaced my car with a Ford F250HD 4x4 with a 2' wide red stripe around it so people will see it and so I can see over all the SUV's and mini-vans that have replaced Volvo station-wagons.
Thanks
Intrestingly in East Asian countries communting by bike is seen as a 'girly' thing
excellent work. thanks!
Thank you so much for the support. I really appreciate it!
Thanks!
Thank you so much for the support! I hope the content it helpful
Great Video I enjoyed watching. Go Suki !
I'm 68 years old and female. I am not small, but I have embraced cycling around my community. On my daily ride to the gym, I have been screamed at by, big surprise...a guy! In a gas hog car, no less! Cities and cycling are not just failing women, but everyone.
that happens to everyone. the world does not revolve around you, princess.
In the last couple of months I was sworn at and told to get off the road, by both a man and a woman. There are asshole women as well.
@DeezNuggz she is just sharing her personal experience. What the hell is wrong with you, you silly person? Why so angry?
@@DeezNuggz What? I never mentioned about the world revolving around me. rude dude.
@@judymc4213 I didn't read your comment in its entirety, I apologize for the comment.
Many women graduated to MOTORCYCLES as i might do both 😊
Your stock footages and historical pictures, especially practical fashion (Knickerbocker eta, etc) a century before GORPcore athletic leisure xear-budiness casual, are a nice production level improvement over mere talking heads.
Of those that cycle commute to my workplace it is a 50/50 split by gender.
Can you plan a video around the bike valet idea. It depends on where I’m at for what the term means. Different people have different concepts for it from a pop up place away from people or cars, cones around a couple parking spaces to locked, secured, monitored self- or assisted-storage options. It’s a vehicular term that doesn’t seem to translate well to the bike community.
Great video. I loved it.
In London, the Gap seems to be closing recently, I see more women cycling on e-bikes especially
Excellent video
This is important and under funded Thanks!
Thank you for the support! I appreciate it.
Irony: Cailynn mentioning that cargo bikes are cost prohibitive, while the video is sponsored by one of the most expensive cargo bike companies. (I really want one, not knocking them, just found it funny.)
Good comments.
Very interesting video touching on a very important subject.
There's a Saudi movie call "Wadjda" about a little girl who wins a Quran recitation competition so she can buy herself a bike.