A while ago I started a series called Bike Talk, where I wanted to seriously chat about some issues that women are afraid to speak out about. My first post on Bike Talk was about bicycles & embracing my inner quirky girl, where I personally dived deep into the first myth of 10 Myths About Women & Cycling, “Women Don’t Like Bikes.” My point was to express that every woman has her way of expressing herself on her bicycle, if it doesn’t look like bike culture or a race team, then there is no shame in embracing and liking the way you bike! Keep in mind… this is a personal perspective rather than expressing and explaining that “82 percent of women having positive views of bicyclists,” of course we do, however, women aren’t positively accepted or represented as bicyclists.
Today, a second myth I’d like to address is that “Women aren’t concerned about biking in their communities.” REAL TALK LADIES… The League of American Bicyclists debunks this with the fact that “2/3 of women agree that their communities would be a better place to live if biking were safer and more comfortable.” Just think, many of us Millennial women are dealing with a lot of environmental realities, including a recovering recession that forces us to rethink our futures as we face stark realities of global warming, starting our careers, and planning families.
With women being a larger part of our economy, the numbers show that 57 percent of women now have more earning power than ever before according to a 2013 Allianz study. This doesn’t mean that women are out spending on finer things. According to the Allianz study, 62 percent of women are investing more in their futures, this includes our communities as we start planning and think about raising children. In addition, many Millennial women are becoming more eco aware . Perhaps it’s the popularity of urban bike shares that hint at strong eco-friendly policies but also the impact of the recession that concerns us with conserving resources and preferring bicycles and mass transit over expensive and resources depleting cars. This mindset is further reflected in how we participate in neighborhood associations, bike coalitions, blogs, and become activist to protect and improve the environment and value of our families, homes, and communities.
While many of us still struggle with the ideology of how policy and industry thinks of women’s interest in cycling and communities, many of us are becoming entrepreneurs, bloggers, and leaders to address the issues we face in making our communities better. As far as I see it, many women are increasingly becoming interested in addressing these issues and tackling them instead of waiting for big industry or government to make the move. Perhaps as we continue to address and grow our communities, we can then begin have a bigger impact (and we slowly are) but to say that we aren’t concerned about biking in our communities is a little shallow of the facts.
Are any of you participants in your community to make cycling more comfortable?