Thanks Paul
The preliminary results of our (now completed) research certainly
underline the (often implicit) analyses here - that the dominance of men
in urban cycling in England has (partly) to do with both the wage
economy (which member of a household is most likely to be in regular
full-time employment, and to have quite straightforward and
regular/reliable/routine journeys as a result), and the domestic economy
(who spends more time in the home (whether doing child-care or other
domestic work), or - when out of the home - is most responsible for
chauffeuring children). So yes, it rings true for me, as someone who's
fresh out of spending a year hanging out with people across four English
cities.
But our research also demonstrates how the gendered stratifications of
cycling are not 'merely' to do with the economy, and do not simply
manifest at the practical level. They're also importantly to do with
ideology, and manifest in political ways. Without necessarily wanting to
get into a debate about the extent to which patriarchy remains in
English society, our research clearly found that women's cycling is more
controlled, censored, and curtailed (mainly through discourses of care)
than is men's. It would be easy to say that this is most true amongst:
i) the non-white population (e.g. in Belgrave, Leicester, the idea that
women might cycling - in saris - is seen (by women as well as men) as
unrealistic; and ii) the working class (e.g. in Little London, Leeds,
cycling is seen as the almost exclusive preserve of teenage boys and
drug-dealers. But actually, we have found sanctions against women's
cycling in many more affluent, suburban, white homes as well - indeed it
seems to be the case that it is precisely the point at which some women
are getting 'real' about the idea of themselves cycling (trying that
commute to work by bike, or taking the kid/s to nursery in a bike
trailer) that political struggles over mobility within the household
become intensified. To give just two quick examples: i) I rode to work
with one woman whose husband was not at all happy about the idea of her
cycling, and who had negotiated with her that he put her bike in the
back of his van, transporting her for the most 'dangerous' part of her
cycling journey; ii) I was called upon by another woman to intervene in
a dispute with her partner over transporting their child to nursery in a
trailer. He was refusing to allow her to make this trip by cycle, saying
it was too dangerous. She wanted me to provide 'objective evidence' that
it was no more dangerous making the trip by cycle than by car.
(There's a lot to say about children, but I think I should stop, for
now!)
Very best wishes
Dave
........................................................................
....
Dr Dave Horton
Research Associate
EPSRC Understanding Walking and Cycling Project
Lancaster Environment Centre
Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ
Tel: 00 44 (0)1524 510287
Email: [log in to unmask]
Project website:
http://www.lec.lancs.ac.uk/research/society_and_environment/project_webs
ites.php
My cycling blog: http://thinkingaboutcycling.wordpress.com/
-----Original Message-----
From: Cycling and Society Research Group discussion list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Paul Rosen
Sent: 21 June 2011 14:17
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Bicycling's gender gap: It's the economy, stupid | Bikenomics |
Grist
An interesting article here, that challenges the assumptions behind
cycling promotion in the UK as well as the USA, I think. I'd be
interested to know how true it rings for those who've been doing more
recent research on cycling than I have.
http://www.grist.org/biking/2011-06-20-bicyclings-gender-gap-its-the-eco
nomy-stupid
Paul
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