Why fewer women than men cycle in the US

[PamNY]

According to the UK Guardian, anyway. I don't have children, and I don't have knowledge of what life is like in the Netherlands, so I don't have much to say on the topic. However, I do see this is an interesting perspective on the matter.

http://www.theguardian.com/environme...ou-think-it-is

[rebeccaC]

The Dutch have been bicycle oriented since the turn of the last century. Bicycling was just an everyday natural thing for me to do growing up in France. I think Davis Ca. started it’s infrastructure in the 60’s and Portland in the 70’s. I find it a little disingenuous to try and make a comparison between the Dutch and the U.S.

Paid family paternity leave, flex hours and higher wages, including the minimum wage, are something a lot of people have in this state. Currently my state puts more of a value on a progressive approach to families than a lot of the states though, probably most states. In my mind well thought out urban design and its funding are probably the most important elements missing in the U.S. to get both more women and men seeing the benefits of more physical activity and the environmental and monetary benefits. Until we get more politicians spending that urban design with bicycle infrastructure money little will change, especially for most cities in conservative states.

eta "Even when women earn more, are better educated, and work more hours than their male partners, they still make 1.5 times as many child-serving trips and 1.4 times as many grocery trips. These findings reflect the fact that in most US families women still shoulder the responsibility for caring for the household".....so more women should be gay for bicycling reasons!!!!!

[OakLeaf]

Nothing in that article that hasn't been discussed here before, and while I don't have children either, I do find it compelling. The talk about the Netherlands is extraneous to the central point, I think.

All I have to do is think about how often, even with motorized transport, I wind up taking the car just because I have too much stuff to haul from town, or not enough time to put on all my moto gear and then take it off again at my destination. And that's all by myself, on a vehicle that travels as fast as a car.

Now, I could manage my time better to deal with the latter point, but for someone with primary responsibility for child care plus one, two or three jobs, those fifteen minutes count. And I'm sure someone will chime in about cargo bikes as they have when this has come up here before, and three cheers for the dedicated TWO people who ride them, but when you're dealing with, say, a two year old and a five year old, four bags of groceries including leafy greens that can't get battered and meat that has to stay frozen, and stops at three different stores (which, excluding the children, is pretty typical of one of my runs into town) - and of course the weather isn't always perfect, which means bundling the kids up way more than you'd have to for a car trip, plus making sure all your stuff is watertight ... that takes a WHOLE lot more dedication than him hollering "Honey, I'm off to work" and hopping on his bike. And maybe it's even tougher when the kids get older, because a nine year old is too big to ride in a trailer but too young to have the traffic skills to ride along to most destinations, and if it's two kids on their own bikes trying to follow you in rush hour traffic ... I don't think so.

The inequality in child care and household responsibilities in the USA is well documented, the Guardian didn't just come up with that. Actually the last figures I saw were even more skewed, so maybe there's a sign of improvement and maybe they just weren't looking at all the same measures. So yeah, I agree.

[lph]

To me it seems that a bikeable lifestyle boils down to two things: 1. communities and towns built to be bike-friendly, with short distances and good infrastructure, and 2. people being willing to make bikeability a priority when choosing jobs and where to live. And where to shop. Because it does (or can) have a cost. I can buy run-of-the-mill grocery items close to home, using a bike trailer, or I can buy harder to get stuff in town, using a backpack or taking public transport. But I then have a 15 minute walk home. So heavy or bulky hard-to-get items are only bought when we're already out with the car for some reason, maybe once a month. Luckily I whole-heartedly loathe taking the car into town, so going without these items for a while doesn't feel like much of a hardship ;-)

[Veronica]

Maybe the Dutch aren't as fanatical about "protecting" their children. I teach at a suburban school and most of the students live within a mile of the school in a neighborhood with sidewalks and bike lanes. Still many parents insist on driving their kids because "it's not safe for them to walk to school."

Veronica

[Eden]

Maybe the Dutch aren't as fanatical about "protecting" their children. I teach at a suburban school and most of the students live within a mile of the school in a neighborhood with sidewalks and bike lanes. Still many parents insist on driving their kids because "it's not safe for them to walk to school."

Veronica

That's a laugh… my husband's bike commute goes by a school. He says the kids are most in danger from harried parents driving like nuts to drop their kids off at school - He even hard to shout at a woman to stop one morning because she nearly ran over two kiddos crossing the street. She whined that she didn't see them. Ummm kids in front of a school.. just after you've let your own out of the car - you didn't expect this?! He says it's the worst part of his commute.

[shootingstar]

To me it seems that a bikeable lifestyle boils down to two things: 1. communities and towns built to be bike-friendly, with short distances and good infrastructure, and 2. people being willing to make bikeability a priority when choosing jobs and where to live. And where to shop. Because it does (or can) have a cost. I can buy run-of-the-mill grocery items close to home, using a bike trailer, or I can buy harder to get stuff in town, using a backpack or taking public transport. But I then have a 15 minute walk home. So heavy or bulky hard-to-get items are only bought when we're already out with the car for some reason, maybe once a month. Luckily I whole-heartedly loathe taking the car into town, so going without these items for a while doesn't feel like much of a hardship ;-)

+1 lph.

A cycling-oriented lifestyle that uses the bike as main personal transportation does require some conscious, long term decisions of where one chooses to live. It can't just "happen" at the snap of fingers. I don't have children. I haven't suggested to mothers that they should cycle for transportation. With my sisters who have children, just merely being a cycling sister, a cycling aunt that is supportive in family time when I am with them, eating, walking or ...yes, cycling short ways with them when I visit, is good enough.

What is helpful is have parents and grow up in a family that chose to live in walkable, cycleable communities...that has long-lasting influence on children when they grow up and choose their own homes. It has been true in my family since my parents chose to live in apartment (lst home), then their home later always making sure it was a 10-15 min. walk from public transit, same distance to a major store, some services. They never expected nor could drive their children around to school. My family didn't have a car until I was 14 yrs.old and already I had 5 younger siblings. So I have clear memory what it means to shop-walk with mother and groceries and sometimes take transit. However a car still didn't solve all problems, since father drove to work 50 km. away from late afternoon onward.

So not just myself, but all 5 siblings bought their own homes, always close to public transit, a school / some services: after all 2 siblings don't drive. Myself and another sister. I am certain that this pattern of home location is heavily influenced by remembering where we lived and grew up as children in terms of close to services and amenities.

wanting to cycle for transportation didn't enter into of our heads initially. Not mine. I just needed to be close to public transit..by default it also meant it was a neighbourhood close to some amenities, etc. including major bike-ped paths...which MUPs for me do work. They aren't always crowded all times, all days of the year in the major cities where I've lived.

That is the best that any mother could aim for ...living close to some key services. If it's cycleable, great. If not, then other priorities have superseded (ie lower cost of housing??).

I think the key thing here is: not necessarily using the bike lots with children, but living in a community that is within walkable, safe distance to key services, a park, amenities with children.