What does Closing the Gender Gap for Women Cyclists look Like?

Last week I met up with committee members from the inaugural Woman and Cycling (WAC15) conference 2015, held at York Racecourse back in April.

Encouraged by the insights and energy made by the conference, we met in order to strategise how best we might take this energy and galvanise it into formative action to bridge the gender disparity between the uptake of cycling amongst men and women in the UK.

There’s lots to get excited about in the coming months which I cannot wait to share with our Cycle Alert readers, but in this first instance we took the time to get to know each other and hear about some of the fantastic work already taking place.

We took time to think about, “what does women’s cycling look like?” In this ideal cycling utopia whereby there was no gender disparity between male and female cyclist populations, what would the UK actually look like? What does it need to achieve? Would it just look like Denmark (where female cyclists actually trump male cyclists at 55%)? What does it look like in Denmark….I’ve never been or experienced cycling there….

Safety came up as a huge contributory factor in encouraging uptake of cycling amongst women. As I came upon a rather timely piece in the Guardian yesterday, “As a cyclist in London, it can feel as if you are taking your life in your hands – especially as a woman….”, I read words from Gil Penalosa which were echoed to me by Baroness Jenny Jones in an APPCG meeting last year and which stuck with me: that women cyclists are the ‘indicator species’ for how well a city’s cycle planning is working.

To quote Gil,

“If there aren’t at least as many women as men, then it’s usually because cycling is not safe enough. It’s an indicator that you do not have enough good cycling infrastructure”.

Cargo bikes and children’s seating; still a novelty in the city. I’ve spoken to mothers who have told me they cycle in the city themselves, but wouldn’t take their children cycling with them, which alludes to a slant of “I don’t mind taking risks with myself, but I won’t take those risks with my children….”

One shouldn’t have to take any risks to cycle. If the environment does not facilitate a mother’s ability to ride a cargo bike, or bike with child’s seat/trailer then you’ve stolen the option of a school run from would-be cyclists, and in the process deprived the next generation of an early introduction to commuter cycling. Don’t forget parity in cycling isn’t solely about women, it is about raising a new generation of cyclists! Women are intrinsic to the future of cycling.

The issue of safety is a well-documented one, and comes up a lot on the website, unsurprisingly given the nature of Cycle Alert’s propensity to address some of the safety issues relating to HGVs, but of course the considerations extend beyond that of technology.

It incorporates space for cycling, safe space for cycling, safe space for all cycling in its many variations and forms. To this end, Isabel Clement’s (Wheels for WellBeing) is commendable in her campaigning for space that takes into account the cycle needs of all, particularly the disabled.  The good news is that we do have a voice, and if we all use ours loudly enough - working through such organisations as Space for Cycling, Cycling for All, and very soon through our very own Women’s Coalition - we can make a difference.

Bring on the challenge!