I understand where you’re coming from. It’s true the survey doesn’t have any male polling group to compare to, so it’s difficult to quantify the difference.
But I still think it’s valuable for a couple reasons. For one, I think improving biking conditions for women and improving them for everyone is largely the same thing, so for the most part the solutions are the same no matter how you frame it.
For two, there is good data showing that women bike less than men when there’s less infrastructure, but that gap closes as the infrastructure improves. There might be a lot of reasons for that. I tend to believe, from comparing my experiences with the women I know, that it’s a mix of women receiving more (and scarier) abuse while biking, and young men just being more risk-tolerant in general. So why I agree this article doesn’t really prove that thesis, I’m personally inclined to think there’s truth to it.
In the Netherlands (where I am from) the genders are far more 50/50 (as in who rides bikes). Given this piece is about a place in the US, the solution probably lies for a major part in better infra and far more civil drivers.
Yeah. In Germany it’s like 48/52, even without the great infra that you guys have.
Down to 17% seems very low and worth writing about imo, makes it really obvious that something’s off. Especially if portland is considered a relatively bike friendly place for north america if i remember that right.
I understand where you’re coming from. It’s true the survey doesn’t have any male polling group to compare to, so it’s difficult to quantify the difference.
But I still think it’s valuable for a couple reasons. For one, I think improving biking conditions for women and improving them for everyone is largely the same thing, so for the most part the solutions are the same no matter how you frame it.
For two, there is good data showing that women bike less than men when there’s less infrastructure, but that gap closes as the infrastructure improves. There might be a lot of reasons for that. I tend to believe, from comparing my experiences with the women I know, that it’s a mix of women receiving more (and scarier) abuse while biking, and young men just being more risk-tolerant in general. So why I agree this article doesn’t really prove that thesis, I’m personally inclined to think there’s truth to it.
Removed by mod
In the Netherlands (where I am from) the genders are far more 50/50 (as in who rides bikes). Given this piece is about a place in the US, the solution probably lies for a major part in better infra and far more civil drivers.
Yeah. In Germany it’s like 48/52, even without the great infra that you guys have.
Down to 17% seems very low and worth writing about imo, makes it really obvious that something’s off. Especially if portland is considered a relatively bike friendly place for north america if i remember that right.