Post by @juliette@mastodon.green

Something anecdotal I have noticed in my rural town: I see plenty of teenage boys riding bikes, but rarely teenage girls. I am wondering if this is something unique to where I am (small town in the middle of Denmark) or something more widely noticed.
Can others let me know if they see a similar pattern?

(Please do not stare at teenagers, especially teenage girls, while conducting this research.)

#BikeTooter
edit: Please do not complain about "Kids These Days" in my replies.

#biketooter

Alexander

@BongoTwisty@social.vivaldi.net 16 hours ago

@juliette

There was a report last year exploring how children in the UK get about in their area. The report highlighted something similar to what you describe. Looks like an equity issue rather than one of preference.

A gender gap exists in children's cycling
Proportion of children who cycled at least five times in the last week
17% of girls
28% of boys

Proportion of children who think their local area is a good place to cycle
66% of girls
72% of boys

Proportion of children who see themselves as someone who often cycles
8% of girls
17% of boys

https://www.walkwheelcycletrust.org.uk/the-walking-and-cycling-index/childrens-walking-and-cycling-index/

Walk Wheel Cycle Trust

Children's Walking and Cycling Index

We've created the first ever Children’s Walking and Cycling Index, designed to understand the behaviours, barriers and attitudes affecting how children walk, wheel and cycle in the UK.

Moz

@moz@fosstodon.org 19 hours ago

@juliette Where I actually live, middle of Sydney, bicycles are pretty rare in general. But the few I see are either male or middle-aged women, all of us commuting to or from work on the bike paths.

There are boys on e-motorbikes in the afternoon, I don't recall seeing girls doing that. E-motorbikes are _A Problem_ here right now.

#BikeTooter

Kate Bowles

@kate@aus.social 16 hours ago

@moz @juliette Can confirm your Wollongong observation. Where I am e-bikes are changing the gendered nature of independently getting about for pre-drivers: many more teen girls are transporting themselves and each other further distances than they would walk or cycle on relatively dark bike tracks. I’m curious to see whether teen girls on e-bikes graduate to full motorbikes.

Moz

@moz@fosstodon.org 2 hours ago

@kate @juliette I suspect that depends on what clampdowns happen. Right now the e-motorbikes are very usable and also very cheap and easy (etc).

Using a registered, licensed motorbike would cost a lot of money and stop them riding on the paths they currently use. But if the e-motorbikes get banned, or kicked off paths (with both rules and enforcement) I suspect we'd see a move back to cars rather than to motorbikes. There's social pressure that way.