Pedaling for gender equality

Women do not need anything more or less than men do to ride a bicycle. So, why do only a few do it?

To ride a bicycle, anyone should only need … a bicycle. What type of bicycle? Does not matter. A helmet? Nope; but if the law enforces it? Well, put it on. If your hair gets messy, just comb it again. No big deal. No item or piece of clothing should prevent a woman, or anyone else, from riding a bicycle freely.

Have you noticed that at the gym there are always more women than men in spinning classes? Maybe it’s because, generally, those who go to the gym go with the same purpose: exercise, sweat, and feel good about themselves. But, women make up only 10-30% of the ridership in most Latin American cities, from Mexico City, to Montevideo in Uruguay. Women on bicycles are more stared at than men. Instead of thinking “great, she is riding a bicycle,” people judge “I don’t like her outfit, the colors don’t match, she is riding a men’s bike, she is fat, she just wants to show off.”

Is Bucaramanga a City for people or for cars?

Día sin carro, 2017. Car-free day, 2017. Viaducto García Cadena, Bucaramanga. Photo: Ciclaramanga

A study by the Department of Transportation of Bucaramanga found that in the metropolitan area there is about one motorized vehicle for every two inhabitants; at the end of 2016 the car park consisted of 632,104 vehicles, with an average automotive occupancy rate of only 1.1 people/car. But what does this mean for Bucaramanga? We all know that Bucaramanga is a city that is growing rapidly “upwards,” where houses are thrown down, sometimes with historical and cultural significance, to build massive buildings. While this form of urbanization creates housing for more people in a reduced space, this has caused an accumulation of motorized vehicles on streets that have nowhere to expand. While buildings are rising, the streets do not expand, and this is how traffic and traffic jams increase in the city.

One of the main reasons why Bumangueses (and in general Colombians) continue to buy cars and drive them is because our cities lack incentives not to do so. A transit service with exclusive bus lanes (Bus Rapid Transit) that barely works is not enough for the Bumangueses to get motivated to leave their cars at home -or better yet, not to have one- and use alternative means that are friendly with the environment and with our health. What we need are stimuli that make us want to walk and take public transport, and why not, to ride a bicycle.