Closing the Active Transportation Gender Gap

Saturday, April 1, 2023

3:30 PM – 4:15 PM CDT

Location: 119A

CM | .75

Division Endorsement: Transportation Planning Division, Women and Planning Division

Moderator and Speaker(s)

Shawna M. Kitzman, AICP (she/her/hers)

Project Manager
Toole Design Group
West Hartford, Connecticut

Speaker(s)

KR

Kate Rozen (she/her/hers)

Graduate Student in Sustainable Transportation
University of Washington
Woodbridge, Connecticut
Holly Parker, NCI; TDM-CP (she/her/hers)

Principal Transportation Planner
SLR Consulting
New Haven, Connecticut
QM

Quinn Molloy
MD

Mary Donegan

While on a family vacation in Washington, D.C., a panelist wanted to ride a shared scooter with her daughter. But minors weren't allowed. They didn't have helmets. And she didn't feel 100 percent comfortable about riding in the travel lane.

Some investigation revealed that men ride bicycles three times more than women (the shared micromobility gender gap is a little smaller). We think of scarce protected bicycle lanes and sprawling car-oriented development as the culprits, but factors ranging from labor policy and societal value on aesthetics to harassment all contribute to the two-wheeled gender gap.

By making more women curious about riding, making it easy and comfortable, and supporting their choice to ride, we will build an environment that also better accommodates children, seniors, and non-cisgender men who use this low-carbon, economical mode of transportation.

NPC Peer Reviewers assigned this presentation a learning level of Intermediate. For more on learning-level descriptions, visit our General Information Page.

Learning Objectives:

Understand how traditional transportation networks and land use hinder people's mobility choices, especially to bike, walk, or take transit.
Identify how the active-transportation gender gap stems from systemic social, emotional, and physical inequities, and how improving the outcome requires a fresh look at U.S. labor policies.
Cite at least three unique solutions to increase active transportation among women.