National Bike Summit: Women's Forum

[nuliajuk]

...from what I've read, "women's issues" as related to cycling often are intermingled with "reasons people are reluctant to ride." Maybe a group to encourage new cyclists and address their concerns makes more sense than a special women's group? You could end up focusing on some things that tend to affect women more than men, but also look into other issues that really have nothing to do with gender.

That's how I felt about a "Women's ready to roll" cycling course that I helped with last spring. Yes, women are sort of an "indicator species" for whether cycling in a given area is viewed to be safe or not, but surely there are men who are also intimidated and don't quite know how to get started? Or are men just more reluctant to admit it?

[tulip]

My city has a women's racing group, but they are focused on racing and not riding for transportation. There are women who ride bikes for transportation, and they show up at all the events--events headed up by men, though. Perhaps the spring will bring some enthusiasm and change. In the meantime, wouldn't it be nice if women were just recognized and called upon to talk about bike issues just because they know about bike issues? This is not happening in my city, thus the opening for a women's organized thing to fill the gap. Not sure it it's going to happen--the men seem to want it more than the women.