Potential Explanations for the Gender Gap in Cycling Using International Evidence
Plus some more studies focused on Alberta
In last week’s issue of this newsletter, your Ride On writers looked at how cycling infrastructure can be improved, as well as safety concerns, effects on businesses of fewer parking spaces, and potential considerations based on gender, with most evidence coming from Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta.
This week, while we will still provide further evidence for Alberta, we will primarily focus on international evidence provided by Nuria Pérez Brandón (2019) in her Master’s thesis for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
Brandón’s (2019) motivation comes from previous studies which find women are more likely to walk or use public transit than men, but less likely to use private transit or bike to work or school. Furthermore, these gender gaps are more significant for countries like Spain where cyclists tend to be disproportionately male (60% men vs. 40% women), as opposed to Norway where there is little if any gender gap.
So the main focus of this issue of Ride On is why might countries like Norway have a relatively small gender gap in cycling, and what can we learn from it to increase the proportion of trips made using this mode of transit in our part of the world? Since we are primarily interested in increasing the use of cycling for everyone in Alberta, we will also cite some studies that focus particularly on cities in our home province.
But before moving on, we ask that you please consider a paid subscription to our newsletter, as it will help us to afford the time and other resources needed to write it every week. Regardless, we are happy you are here reading what we write!
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