Why don't ladies commute?

[Comedian]

This has been puzzling me a bit. On my commute the proportion of ladies to gents would be of the order of 10%. I'm not sure what their representation is I'm the workforce, but I'm sue it's better than that. I would have expected 40%.

Anyway, just curious as to why they are missing out on this great form of cycling?

[Missy24]

It's not just commuting it's cycling in general my reasoning behind the reason why women don't commute are
1. No shower at work place
2. Worried about there clothes getting wrinkled
3. It's a hassle
4. Weather
Melbourne has a lot of females who commute but let me continue.
1. A lot have children to drop off
2, they do the shopping
3. They run to the post office
4. They take the kids to after school activities
5. They have dinners to prepare
My guess is that these women are tired and just trying to get through the day ad best asthey can and I know the more exercise that you do then the higher your energy levels are...I don't get what is so puzzling about women not commuting for some it's that half an hour on the tram to read a book, for those who drive it may mean an extra 30 minutes of sleep. Women tend to have very busy lives, hell I went to bed at 2am last night and I'm sitting on the tram today cause I couldn't be bothered riding.

[Missy24]

Oh and FYI I'm not on some feminist rampage

[hannos]

They lack cement in their diet.

[Missy24]

They lack cement in their diet.

Ooooo....

But yeah hannos is right

[Boognoss]

Well I know one female commuter. That's it but I don't personally know too many other male regular commuters other than on the forums here.
On any given commute I will see at least a ratio of 10:1 of male to female rides.

[hannos]

least a ratio of 10:1 of mail to female rides.

Australia Post has a lot of riders!




Personally I think Missy is fairly close to the mark although not all women have kids to deal with. I just think those that could commute by bicycle think it's too difficult.

[Boognoss]

least a ratio of 10:1 of mail to female rides.

Australia Post has a lot of riders!




Personally I think Missy is fairly close to the mark although not all women have kids to deal with. I just think those that could commute by bicycle think it's too difficult.

/sigh

Don't make me abuse my mod privileges and edit your quote of mine .

Missy does raise good points. The lady friend of mine doesn't have kids (yet) and is bike obsessed.

[silkishuge]

It's not just commuting it's cycling in general my reasoning behind the reason why women don't commute are
1. No shower at work place
2. Worried about there clothes getting wrinkled
3. It's a hassle
4. Weather
Melbourne has a lot of females who commute but let me continue.
1. A lot have children to drop off
2, they do the shopping
3. They run to the post office
4. They take the kids to after school activities
5. They have dinners to prepare
My guess is that these women are tired and just trying to get through the day ad best asthey can and I know the more exercise that you do then the higher your energy levels are...I don't get what is so puzzling about women not commuting for some it's that half an hour on the tram to read a book, for those who drive it may mean an extra 30 minutes of sleep. Women tend to have very busy lives, hell I went to bed at 2am last night and I'm sitting on the tram today cause I couldn't be bothered riding.

Well, my wife does not commute because:
it is too far for her.
Route is not safe for her level of riding
Its faster by car,
she is not concern about her weight (40kg)
women need alot more time to prepare themselves for work.
I prefer if she drives.......

I do all the shopping, post office runs, manage the outdoors, cook 6 out of 7 days but she manages all the accounts, manages the household, cleans the house etc. Chores are split evenly. For her, not commuting by bike has nothing to do with chores but more with practicality. Takes me only 10 mins to shower and be ready for work. It would take her close to 45 mins to and hour. I'd rather spend that extra hour with her

J

[Missy24]

Seriously, take me for example, 25 years old, single, spends time at one full time job, has one day of and then goes to work at a different whilst trying to build a good body of work to get into a journalism degree, meanwhile I'm also trying to run four days a week, get some swimming in and one decent ride. Amongst all of this there are friends to visit and washing to do, soooo if I choose to jump on a tram a few days a week for some peace and to read one of the million books that I haven't read, it really is because it's just too hard.

I don't even want to know what it would be like with children!

[Missy24]

she is not concern about her weight (40kg)
women need alot more time to prepare themselves for work.
I prefer if she drives.......
J

[cp123]

I commute!

I'm a complete non princess while others I know can't cope without the blow dried hair and make up. I have been working on a colleague who lives 8 km from work (less than half my distance) and have offered to ride with her (as i pass that way) until she commits. I guess the "girly girl's" like it.

[wombatK]

Isn't it obvious - there is nobody to talk to.

[justD]

It's because they have 'that time of the month' to worry about. Take Missy's response to a completely reasonable question for example:)

[Missy24]

It's because they have 'that time of the month' to worry about. Take Missy's response to a completely reasonable question for example:)

What was wrong with my response?

[beauyboy]

EASY GUYS

I think it has more do do with safety. On my commute which is 75% bikeway the girl boy split is more like 40/60.

If one person give the reason of hair it is a copout. I have long hair and it is easier to ride with then short hair that you have to get the gel out for.

Donald

[Chanboy]

Interestingly I was just talking about this with my gf recently. She reckons that maybe 1 in 50 cycle commuters are women. I disagree, I reckon on my route there is somewhere between 1 in 5 and 1 in 10...

...maybe I am just more observant of the female form then she is?!?

I certainly do observe more men than women commuting... but I would say in the past 2 years, the numbers of women commuting is increasing.

[silkishuge]

Interestingly I was just talking about this with my gf recently. She reckons that maybe 1 in 50 cycle commuters are women. I disagree, I reckon on my route there is somewhere between 1 in 5 and 1 in 10...

...maybe I am just more observant of the female form then she is?!?

I certainly do observe more men than women commuting... but I would say in the past 2 years, the numbers of women commuting is increasing.

I don't see a single female commuter on my route, but I see a number who use Galston Rd to Hornsby Station. I don't think it is practical for many to commute long distances unless they had a passion for cycling. I love cycling so I enjoy my 60km of riding a day. My wife might take a pootle down to the shops to pick up some milk 5km away but 30km each way would be asking too much. Not to mention the safety issue and hills on route that not all people can manage. For her to get to the main road, she would have to climb a hill with gradients between 15% to 20% for about 700m and she physically can't do it. Safety, physical ability are also factors, not just for women, but for all people.

J

[mikesbytes]

and safety

The majority of my customers in spin class are female. You can't get hit by a truck in a spin room

[beauyboy]

Unless the Cardio Room is next to a main road

Donald

[ColinOldnCranky]

I see far more than 10%, though there are more guys.

However, there is far more joy in for me to see lycra encased butt moved away in front of me. Maybe that is the equaliser.

Seriously though, while having no time for those pleasing to do away with helmets, heading to work in one would be a deal breaker for some women. End of trip facilities do not always extend to hair dryers and styling facilities.

[ColinOldnCranky]

I think a far more pressing question is "why aren't there more unicyclists commuting?"

I'm gonna start up a political party of keen unicyclists to push the cause. (Well, that's one vote.)

[Chris249]

It's not just commuting it's cycling in general my reasoning behind the reason why women don't commute are
1. No shower at work place
2. Worried about there clothes getting wrinkled
3. It's a hassle
4. Weather
Melbourne has a lot of females who commute but let me continue.
1. A lot have children to drop off
2, they do the shopping
3. They run to the post office
4. They take the kids to after school activities
5. They have dinners to prepare
My guess is that these women are tired and just trying to get through the day ad best asthey can and I know the more exercise that you do then the higher your energy levels are...I don't get what is so puzzling about women not commuting for some it's that half an hour on the tram to read a book, for those who drive it may mean an extra 30 minutes of sleep. Women tend to have very busy lives, hell I went to bed at 2am last night and I'm sitting on the tram today cause I couldn't be bothered riding.

I'm not having a go at you, but it's not just women who have to do such things, and being time poor can be a great reason to commute on a bike. For example, I didn't do a coffee stop on Wednesday morning's group ride because I had to get home to do the week's shopping for a family of five before heading to the office on the bike. If you had to rely on public transport, you wouldn't be able to get exercise and do the shopping and still get to work on time.

There seem to be quite a few studies that show that men spend as much time working (paid work and housework) as women do, so it's not a clear cut case of women doing more.

Maybe we should be turning the message the other way around - people (of either sex) who have so much to do can't afford to spend their time at the gym or waiting for a slow moving bus. My wife commutes every day by bike, only about 5km each way but through heavy traffic (Parramatta Rd etc). She loves it, and finds it a vital de-stresser and time saver when she's got three kids, two dogs, two birds, two sports and is lecturing at uni and finishing her psychophyics PhD.

[casual_cyclist]

This has been puzzling me a bit. On my commute the proportion of ladies to gents would be of the order of 10%. I'm not sure what their representation is I'm the workforce, but I'm sue it's better than that. I would have expected 40%.

Anyway, just curious as to why they are missing out on this great form of cycling?

My work has showers, lockers and the change rooms have power points so that takes care of some of the concerns of the females. My workplace also has a roughly 50/50 split male to female which is pretty unusual. At a guess I would say the ratio of male to female cyclists is roughly 60/40.

However, on my daily commute I mostly see males...

[simonn]

FWIW, my wife commutes most of the time.

She says she feels a bit like ugly betty (she works for a media/online company - a serious mix of ugly betty biatches, online hipsters and IT engineers) some of the time as most of the women who work there wear a different immaculate designer outfit every day, never the same twice. She wears her jeans and top which have been in her backpack and the same shoes everyday. Mind you, she would not be wearing a new designer outfit everyday in any case. In addition, she cannot preen herself as much at work as she could do at home (and does if she catches the bus).

She gets lots of respect though, particularly from the (younger and male) fixie kids - her commute is 2-3x the distance of theirs.