This document discusses the intersection of cycling and feminism. It begins by noting that in the late 19th century, Susan B. Anthony said bicycling had done more to emancipate women than anything else. However, currently less than a third of UK cyclists are women. The document examines why cycling culture and infrastructure are often designed and dominated by men, which can discourage women from cycling. It argues for a feminist perspective in cycling policy and design to make cycling a socially inclusive activity that meets the needs of all genders.

1. Intersecting
Cycling and Feminism
or: how we talk inclusively about women & cycling______________________________________________________
Katja Leyendecker EurIng CEng
Researcher at Northumbria University
Prepared for presentation at WI Cambridge 9 March 2019
1

2. Then and Now …
2

3. Susan B Anthony,
wrote in 1896:
“I think [bicycling]
has done more to
emancipate women
than any one thing
in the world”
3

4. Fastforward to the 21st Century:
In the UK, it is increasingly heard from policy
and campaigning circles that more women must
be encouraged to cycle …
(Allatt 2018; British Cycling 2013)
4

5. “LTN 2/08 Man” – front cover: UK cycle infrastructure design manual 5

6. Cyclists in low-cycling countries, like in the UK
and anglophone Western countries, have an
image problem …
(Leonard, Spotswood, and Tapp 2012; Cupples
and Ridley 2008).
6

7. “Some young men on bicycles (dressed in lycra
outfits, face covered with air-filter masks) are
extremely arrogant and aggressive, just like
some men in cars, and seldom are they
burdened with shopping or children”
Greed 1994:41
7

8. Photo: Mark Treasure, CEoGB

9. Photo: Marc van Woudenberg @amsterdamize

11. The historical omission of women’s voices from
urban design has been detrimental to women’s
full inclusion and participation in public life …
(Greed 1994; Eichler 1995)
11

12. Facts and figures …
12

13. Despite the availability of the technical
knowledge, cycling levels in the UK have
remained low and “stubbornly unshifting”
(Spotswood et al. 2015)
England has a 2% cycle mode share of all trips
(DfT 2017)
13

14. Mode share: census / commute
14

15. Census versus mobility of care
(Census )
(NTS)

16. Women’s transport realities are different from
men’s …
due to the process of socialisation affecting
social roles and norms that often equate women
to relational and men to agentic actions …
(Wood and Eagly 2002)
16

17. women
men
(NTS)
17

18. Sanchez de Madariaga (2013)
“Mobility of care”
18

19. “Because of their materially different position in
society, women have objectively different
interests from men”
Phillips 1994:200
19

20. In the UK, less than a third of all cyclists are
women …
(Garrard, Handy, and Dill 2012)
20

21. Cycling by sex in cities
Percentageofbicyclists[sic]whoarefemale
Percentage of trips by bicycle [sic]
Berlin
Tokyo
Cities in USA, UK, Aus, NZ
KOP
AMS
Graph: Garrard, J., et al. (2012). Women and cycling. City cycling. J. Pucher and R.Buehler, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Newcastle
Bremen
Cambridge
21

22. In a low-cycling scenario, such as the UK, the
current cyclist is predominantly younger middle-
class male …
(Steinbach et al. 2011)
22

23. Gendered cycling?
Now Future
Number of people not cycling under current condition:
23

24. “No city in Europe or North
America has achieved high level
of cycling without an extensive
network of well-integrated bike
lanes and paths that provide
separation from motor vehicle
traffic. […] Separate cycling
facilities are a crucial first step
towards increasing cycling and
making it socially inclusive”
Pucher & Buehler 2012:351
“It is clear from our research
that most non-cyclists and
recreational cyclists will only
consider cycling regularly if they
are segregated from [motor
vehicle] traffic”
Pooley et al 2013:176
(Monsereetal2014)(Aldred2015)
Interested but concerned
24

25. In feminist theory…
25

26. Origins of behaviour
Existentialism Essentialism
feminine & masculine woman & man
Nurture / culture Nature
Gender Sex
Sociology
Psychology
Evolutionary biology
Endocrinology
PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE
26

27. The feminist orientation puts women’s
experiences at the centre, thereby allowing a
move away from an androcentrist standpoint …
(Chase 2008)
27

28. Women are in a prime position to challenge
androcentric organisation of society, often due
to the direct experiences women have of the
very situation …
(Kellner and Lewis 2007)
28

29. “The personal is political”
Second wave
Researcher, personal experience
Truth/knowledge production
Positivism
All can be known
Quantitative
All knowing
Objective outsider
Constructivism
Bits can be glimpsed
Qualitative/quant/mixed
Participant
Part of the equation
Epistemology :
Methods :
Researcher :
29

30. Cooperation and relational thinking, both traits
gendered as feminine in the current association
(Eagly and Wood 1999; Wood and Eagly 2002),
are simultaneously labelled “dysfunctional” and
are hence marginalised in the masculinist
scientific practice …
(Hekman 2007:536)
Can’t win …
30

31. “It's easier for women than for men to see
what's wrong with the world that men have run”
Dinnerstein, cited in Broughton and Honey
1988:33
31

32. Back to cycling …
32

33. Most of the cyclists and cycle activists
interviewed in Cambridge “did feel part of an
imagined community” (Aldred, 2010:43)
but “people also felt ambivalent about being a
‘cyclist’” (ibid:48).
33

34. Experiencing the political
Conservative
Individual strength
Administrative
“You”
Name
Characteristic :
State role :
Action level :
Symbol :
Liberal
Societal learning
Educational
“Us”
Radical
Systems
Social-supportive
“Bigger than us”
Based on: Stone 2002
Structural
Socialrights
Personal
responsibility
PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE
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35. “By cycling one experiences oneself as an outsider,
intimidated and endangered by other road users
and marginalised by a society reluctant to restrain
the ‘rights of the car’. Contrary to the apparent
intent of much government policy, then,
contemporary cyclists often actually feel as though
they are being driven from the roads”
Horton 2006:54
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36. My research:
• The women activists I interviewed demanded
infrastructure (and not an ‘upgraded’ cyclist identity)
• Reasoning: personal need and mobility for all
• The spatialization of their demands radicalised and
politicised their campaigning
• And rattled official institutions (councils, civic society
organisations etc)
→ A new cycle activism resulted
36

37. Shifting political
Structural
Socialrights
Personal
responsibility
NEWCYCLE CAMPAIGNING OLDERCYCLE CAMPAIGNING
37

38. References
1.Aldred, Rachel. 2015. ‘Adults’ Attitudes towards Child Cycling: A Study of the Impact of Infrastructure’. European Journal of Transport and Infrastructure Research 15 (2): 92–115.
2.Allatt, Anna. 2018. ‘What Is Stopping Women from Cycling?’ BBC News, 21 January 2018, sec. Leicester. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leicestershire-41737483.
3.British Cycling. 2013. ‘Improving Road Safety Is Key to Encouraging More Women to Cycle’. 2013. https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/article/20131209-campaigning-news-Improving-road-safety-is-
key-to-encouraging-more-women-to-cycle-0.
4.Broughton, John, and Margaret Honey. 1988. ‘Gender Arrangements and Nuclear Threat: A Discussion with Dorothy Dinnerstein’. Theoretical & Philosophical Psychology 8 (2): 27–40.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0091447.
5.Chase, Susan E. 2008. ‘Narrative Inquiry: Multiple Lenses, Approaches, Voices’. In Collecting and Interpreting Qualitative Materials (3rd Edition), edited by Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln.
Thousand Oaks, CA, USA: Sage Publications.
6.Cupples, Julie, and Elisabeth Ridley. 2008. ‘Towards a Heterogeneous Environmental Responsibility: Sustainability and Cycling Fundamentalism’. Area 40 (2): 254–264.
7.DfT. 2017. ‘Transport Statistics Great Britain 2017’. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/661933/tsgb-2017-report-summaries.pdf.
8.Eagly, Alice H., and Wendy Wood. 1999. ‘The Origins of Sex Differences in Human Behavior: Evolved Dispositions versus Social Roles.’ American Psychologist 54 (6): 408–23.
https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.54.6.408.
9.Eichler, Margrit. 1995. Change of Plans: Towards a Non-Sexist Sustainable City. Toronto, Canada: Gramond Press.
10.Garrard, Jan, Susan Handy, and Jennifer Dill. 2012. ‘Women and Cycling’. In City Cycling, edited by John Pucher and Ralph Buehler. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press.
11.Greed, Clara. 1994. Women and Planning: Creating Gendered Realities. London, UK: Routledge.
12.Horton, Dave. 2006. ‘Environmentalism and the Bicycle’. Environmental Politics 15 (1): 41–58. https://doi.org/10.1080/09644010500418712.
13.Kellner, Douglas, and Tyson Lewis. 2007. ‘Liberal Humanism and the European Critical Tradition’. In Social Science Methodology, edited by William Outhwaite and Stephen P Turner. Thousand Oaks,
CA, USA: Sage Publications.
14.Leonard, Sarah, Fiona Spotswood, and Alan Tapp. 2012. ‘Overcoming the Self-Image Incongruency of Non-Cyclists’. Journal of Social Marketing 2 (1): 23–36.
https://doi.org/10.1108/20426761211203238.
15.Monsere, Chris, Jennifer Dill, Nathan McNeil, Kelly Clifton, Nick Foster, Tara Goddard, Matt Berkow, et al. 2014. ‘NITC-RR-583 Protected Lanes - Lessons from the Green Lanes : Evaluating Protected
Bike Lanes in the US.’ 2014.
16.ONS. 2014. ‘2011 Census Analysis - Cycling to Work’. Office for National Statistics. http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census-analysis/cycling-to-work/2011-census-analysis---cycling-to-
work.html#tab-Change-by-gender.
17.Phillips, Anne. 1994. ‘The Representation of Women’. In Gender Studies, edited by Polity Readers. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
18.Pooley, Colin G, Tim Jones, Miles Tight, Dave Horton, Griet Scheldeman, Caroline Mullen, Ann Jopson, and Emanuele Strano. 2013. Promoting Walking and Cycling : New Perspectives on Sustainable
Travel. Bristol, UK: Policy Press.
19.Sánchez de Madariaga, Inés. 2013. ‘From Women in Transport to Gender in Transport: Challenging Conceptual Frameworks for Improved Policymaking’. Journal of International Affairs 67 (1): 43–
XVIII.
20.Spotswood, Fiona, Tim Chatterton, Alan Tapp, and David Williams. 2015. ‘Analysing Cycling as a Social Practice: An Empirical Grounding for Behaviour Change’. Transportation Research Part F:
Traffic Psychology and Behaviour 29: 22–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2014.12.001.
21.Steinbach, Rebecca, Judith Green, Jessica Datta, and Phil Edwards. 2011. ‘Cycling and the City: A Case Study of How Gendered, Ethnic and Class Identities Can Shape Healthy Transport Choices’.
Social Science & Medicine 72 (7): 1123–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.01.033.
22.Stone, Deborah. 2002. Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making (Revised Edition) 2nd Edition. 2nd ed. W. W. Norton & Company. Yew York, USA: W.W. Norton.
23.UK Government. unknown. ‘Travel by Age and Gender (NTS06)’. GOV.UK. unknown. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/nts06-age-gender-and-modal-breakdown.
24.Wood, Wendy, and Alice H. Eagly. 2002. ‘A Cross-Cultural Analysis of the Behavior of Women and Men: Implications for the Origins of Sex Differences.’ Psychological Bulletin 128 (5): 699–727.
https://doi.org/10.1037//0033-2909.128.5.699.
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39. Thanks for listening
https://katsdekker.wordpress.com/
@katsdekker
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