Originally Posted by matagi
I think the perceived risks of riding in traffic (and therefore fear of traffic) are a big factor. I went to a women's cycling seminar last month and all of the other women at my table basically had the same reason for not riding much - they thought riding on the roads was dangerous. Most of their discussion was about where they could ride using off road bikepaths.
When I told them all my riding took place on narrow rural roads, they looked at me in shock and basically all of them asked "aren't you scared?"
Ok, this is based on a tiny sample (9 women at a table of 10) but I would venture to say it is a pretty prevalent attitude.
I was hoping it was fear of mechanical work, because it seems that would be easier to overcome, since most maintenance and repair work is pretty simple. But you only overcome the fear of traffic by actually riding in traffic, and I suppose there are a lot of people who wouldn't even want to try.
If the perceived risk of riding in traffic is holding women back, then maybe the larger cycling groups should have more seminars/clinics focused on this? If the feedback in this forum is somewhat consistent on this point as it relates to their non-cycling female friends, maybe those of us in cycling groups can volunteer to run a clinic on how to safely ride in traffic? I'd certainly do this for the group I'm in. Anything to get more ladies on the road (since I'm spending a lot of time on the road instead of the bar, it's in my self-interest to get more potential dates on the road)!