Originally Posted by banerjek
I don't think that's it. In the places I've worked, the single able bodied women don't do any better than their counterparts with kids.
I think it is because even most feminists seem to regard women as fragile and vulnerable. No one thinks anything of letting some guy walk about at night (nor should they), but I can't tell you how many times I've been the token man on hand to make even small groups of women feel "safe". I'm a scrawny 140lbs, so I'd be able to do little more than delay real attackers by more than 2 seconds while I got pulped. When I drove delivery years ago, women drivers never wanted to go to "unsafe" areas or where they felt "uncomfortable," so they'd send me or one of the other guys.
We seem to be conditioned to believe that it's OK for guys to take risks, but not women. Also, when things really go wrong, there is an expectation that guys will somehow adjust, but that women should be emotionally traumatized for life.
It could also be that men just like cycling more than women. The ratio of men to women runners seems much closer than it is for cyclists. Walkers seem to be predominantly women.
Well, for me, childcare issues are the reason why I can't commute 95% of the time. The other 5% of times I can't commute, it's a time issue, like I'm rushing to get a paper finished, etc. Tonight
I did archaeology for 4 years, then land surveying for 3 years (you know the people standing at tripods?). And I can tell you I got no special treatment. None of the men (or women, in archaeology) that I worked with thought that there was any reason I couldn't do the job. In surveying, we worked in ALL neighborhoods, but it was daytime. And since I was not crew cheif, 90% of the digging of holes, walking long distances in all sorts of brush and woods, etc., fell to me.
I do not considerable myself vulnerable or fragile. My husband and I take turns removing the dead squirrels from our yard, for example (quite a few lately, since the dog learned how to catch and kill them). BUT it would be stupid for a 128 lb female (or male) person, to ride alone at night in a bad area. Sorry, but I'd rather be mugged than *****.