Women often make more of a household’s trips, yet women make half the number of bicycle trips that men do. Women are often referred to as the ‘indicator species’ when it comes to determining how accessible bicycle is in a community. How to get more women biking, enjoying it and feeling safe and confident? Marketing and campaigns directed specifically at women can help. Effective programs and marketing engage people and lead people to make different transportation choices. They can provide a huge ‘bang for the buck,’ if done well and can lead to lasting change. But it’s not easy to shift public perception or change habits. What is the secret? What can programs, marketing and campaigns for active transportation learn from recent research and commercial marketing to be more effective? How do you avoid preaching to the choir and reach diverse audiences in meaningful ways? Do programs and marketing that target specific audiences, such as women and women of color have better results? Walk away from this session knowing the top 5 things needed for effective programs and marketing and a solid return on investment argument for funding programs and marketing, and a toolkit.

1. Women on bikes: it’s not just fun and
games – targeting specific audiences
for effective marketing
Lake Strongheart McTighe, Janis McDonald, Marne Duke & Elizabeth Williams

2. How Can You Tell If Your City is Bikeable?
Hint: Count the Women.

3. 69.70%
64.70%
30.30%
35.30%
1994 2011
Bicycle Mode Share by Gender, Portland
metro area, 1994 and 2011
Male Female
In many places women make much fewer
trips by bicycle than men

5. the
reasons
many
women do
not bike
are
complex

6. 1. Make champions of all
women on bikes - not just
Olympians. The best way to get
women cycling is to show them
women cycling.

7. 2. Mother and child on
two wheels? It can be
done.
We can encourage
mothers to cycle with
their children by making
the necessary bike kit
affordable and easily
available. We can also
drop the judgment. If a
woman chooses to cycle
whilst pregnant or with
her child, chances are
she’s thought through all
the pros and cons
extremely carefully and
arrived at a reasoned
conclusion.

8. 3. The cycling industry needs to
properly embrace women. Check
out Elly Blue’s 5 tips for the Bike
industry (tip #1: not all women are
alike!)

9. 4. Figure out
how cycling can
fit in. Many
women do not
cycle because
they don’t really
see how it can fit
into their
everyday lives.
Listen to what
women need,
what their
concerns are.

10. Lake Strongheart McTighe, Project Manager
Active Transportation Program, Metro
Tel: 503-797-1660
Lake.McTighe@oregonmetro.gov
www.oregonmetro.gov/activetransport