Most people often link
cycling to men. Seldom can you see photos of women
mountain biking since it is the men who are dominant in such scene. Hence, you may sometimes wonder if bikes are really designed for men. Below are the myths about women and cycling:
• Women don't bike
Statistics show that 82% of American women have positive views about bicyclists.
• Women are not mindful about bikes
Two out of three women advocate biking and find our world a better place if more effort is exerted to make cycling more comfortable and safe.
• Not so many women purchase bikes
Sixty percent of bike's market comes from women aging 17-28 years old.
• Cycling is not interesting to women
In Portland, 47% of potential cyclists are women.
• There are only very few women who joined bike trips in the US
In 2009 alone, more than 982 million women took a bicycle trip.
• Women don't use bike to work
If you look at the statistics from 2007 up to 2011, you will learn that 56% of bike commuters are women and the number even grew over time.
• Cycling is not included in women's workout and sports
Out of 47 sports played, bicycle riding ranked 9th in women. It even surpassed tennis, yoga, and softball.
• Women don't invest money on bicycles
Do you know that 37% of bikes sold in 2011 were purchased by women? This costs $2.3 billion dollars in total.
• The bike advocacy is for men
There are 45% paid staff in organizations with bicycle advocacy that constitutes women.
• Bicycle Evangelists are limited to men
As of writing, 630 blogs are dedicated to biking and all these blogs are written by women.
With all these proofs, you can't say that cycling is only for men. There are even more statistics to disprove the claim that bikes are not designed for women. In fact, there are even increasing numbers of women who invest on
electric bikes for sale. They even take the effort to end up with the best electric bike 2017 to take advantage of such bike innovation available in our days.
If you trace down history, you will learn that bicycles even empowered women to their life's advocacy. One example of this is the "bicycle for freedom" that redefined the normative conventions of feminity in the late 19th century. According to Munsey's Magazine, men only regard bicycle in the early chapter of their lives as a new toy. But for women, this symbolizes their ride to a new world.
In the olden days, women it is not normal for women to ride bikes. But according to Sue Amacy, it only reflects men's fears that women may somehow supplement men as decision makers and bread winners.
Today, more and more women ride bikes. They don't do so to prove to men that they are better than they but to show the usefulness of bikes and such advantage must be enjoyed by anyone regardless of gender.
