Gender and cycling

Ongoing

Despite the myriad of health and environmental benefits of getting on a bike, women are significantly under-represented amongst our cyclists – in Melbourne, twice as many men ride bikes as women. We conducted mixed-methods research to understand both why this is the case, and how this trend can be reversed.

We found that the number one barrier people experience was having to ride on the road alongside motor vehicle traffic and the associated concerns, including concern about injury and motorist aggression. However, we found that not only did significantly more women report these concerns, but they also reported additional barriers, including a concern about falling from their bike and into oncoming traffic, concern about their personal safety in dark or secluded areas, where bike paths often detour, and a lack of confidence around purchase, maintenance and riding.

This project was conducted as a PhD research program by Dr Lauren Pearson, supervised by Associate Professor Ben Beck, Professor Belinda Gabbe and Dr Sandy Reeder.

Associated works