What would be interesting is to find some cycling stats based on
gender - how many women ride bikes compared to men? How many do so
for commuting or casual riding, and also as a competitive sport (pro
or amateur)? Here in Ottawa I would give a very rough estimate of a
3-1 ratio on the street.
But that does not seem to translate into the industry. Of the shops
around here, the ones that have women even just doing sales tend to
the larger "sports" stores, and there's only one shop I'm aware of
that actually had a woman wrench (McCrank's in the Glebe, where I
used to work part-time). And it's a bike-only shop.
Is it the old thing of women still not being socialized to do
mechanical things? As I was growing up I thought feminism would
finally help push all this gender-related crap aside, but we all know
it has not. But how deep is the mind-set? I need to read up on my
gender studies to see if little girls really do prefer dolls and
little boys prefer trucks.
What has been heartening is how many younger women are showing an
interest in fixing their own bikes. We don't get too many women over
35 coming in, but lots in the 18-35 group. We've had a few with some
experience say they'd like to be come a Head Mechanic, but
unfortunately none have so far followed through. One of our current
Shop Assistants did say last summer that she plans to become our
first female HM, but then her new job seems to have kept her away
from the shop, so we're no closer to even that modest goal.
Women have told us they appreciate seeing other women in the shop,
especially as staff, answering questions and selling bikes. While we
are gender lopsided in terms of mechanics, we're at least doing
better in terms of committed volunteer staff. But it is certainly
not representative of the general population.
One thing I've always found interesting (from the aspect of
mechanical aptitude) is how many women will sew their own clothes and
have good knowledge of how the machine works, while most men confess
complete ignorance regarding sewing machines. It seems to be that
one mechanical place where most men will not go. But of course
sewing and knitting, etc. were traditionally considered as "women's
work" so maybe the old gender thing does apply...
Mark (who will now read up on the concept of "male privilege")