Women on wheels: Gender and cycling in Solo, Indonesia

Abstract

This paper explores the question of how to promote cycling among women who face disproportionate mobility and accessibility barriers in rapidly urbanizing contexts by analyzing empirical findings from a multi-method research study based in Solo, Indonesia. Building on and applying a combination of critical gender, geography, and development perspectives, it focuses on the perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of women residing in low-income neighbourhoods with little access to public transportation networks in Solo as an 'indicator species for bike-friendly cities'. Based on research and analytic findings, the paper further contemplates alternative policy and planning approaches to promoting cycling in more gender-inclusive and responsive terms.

“The effects of gender transport poverty in Karachi”

“…The survey results showed that more than half the working women also spent 8-12 hours on household chores, with most men spending less than 4 hours on this, as shown in Figure 6. The time spent travelling or waiting for transport is further exacerbated due to the gendered division of labour at the household level (Song, Kirschen and Taylor, 2019). Women cannot afford the luxury of waiting for transport even if they are not harassed, or working at long distances from home, or taking jobs that require them to work long hours, because they still need to spend time on domestic chores.…”

Toward a Gender-Inclusive Complete Streets Movement

“…Nonetheless, we often honor and reinforce our social relationships through travel behavior. This is one mechanism through which “perceived fears and social norms circumscribe women’s travel times to daylight hours and discourage non-motorized travel” (Song, Kirschen and Taylor 2019, 148). Siqueira’s grandmother may be justified in her concerns, and, objectively, it may be less safe for women to travel alone at night in Recife.…”

“…In this case, individual travelers shoulder the impossible trade-off of either not participating in public life or traveling with a sensation of physical vulnerability. The prevalence of gender violence in streets and public spaces prompts female, transgender, and gender nonbinary travelers to manage their physical appearance, carefully select their route, carry a type of defense, text a friend when they get home or take other protective actions (Heim LaFrombois 2019; Song, Kirschen and Taylor 2019).…”

Equitable active transport for female cyclists

“…For many countries, active transport is becoming a priority in an attempt to reduce single-occupant car usage and address the long-term impact of transportation on the environment. While walking is an integral part of human life, the oldest and simplest form of human mobility, requiring no special lesson (Fonseca et al, 2021;Lyons, 2020), cycling, on the other hand, as a form of active transportation requires skills and confidence, which may deter many people (Mogaji, 2022b) From a gender perspective, studies have found that women are more likely to walk than cycle as a form of active transportation (Song et al, 2019); many women avoid risks compared to men and will not want to cycle when the infrastructures, like protected bike lanes, are insufficient or compromise their safety. Access to cycling and the willingness to cycle pose an equity challenge for planners and practitioners and this challenge is multifaceted and requires a better understanding (Lee et al, 2017;Mandic et al, 2022).…”

“…Cycling generally has not been well adopted in many African countries, Goel et al (2022) reported that 0.1 % of females in Accra, Ghana and Cape Town, South Africa respectively and 2.1 % in Kisumu, Kenya are cycling, compared to 16.8 % of females in Munich Germany. In addition to this low adoption of cycling as a mode of transportation, female cyclists are sandwiched between different layers of inequityfrom the cultural and social norms they live with (Song et al, 2019;Iqbal et al, 2020), the gendered differences, household and childcare responsibilities, and how they travel around (Goel et al, 2022;Russell et al, 2021), to the imposing limitations and the instructional and structural challenges of their country, where there is limited investment in cycling infrastructure (Song et al, 2019;Mogaji, 2020;Mogaji, 2022b). This target group of individuals provides a justifiable background for assessing social and spatial disparities of cycling as a form of active transportation.…”