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The research and practices associated to expand the use of active travel have shown extensive benefits on the overall assessment of well-being. However, cycling is still unequal considering age and gender. Therefore, further research is needed for contributing to the wider and more inclusive use of the bicycle for women.

The chapter aims to explore and differentiate the emotive and instrumental subjective well-being (SWB) factors that make cycling especially favourable for women, contributing to their general well-being. The chapter also inquiries about the factors that expand women’s opportunities as consequence of cycling.

The research is focussed in the context of Latin American cities, building on the experience of experts in Santiago, Bogotá, Buenos Aires and Mexico City. These cities have had a substantial increase in urban cycling, and yet low rates of cycling women when compared to men.

The nature of the research is qualitative as it considers semi-structured interviews with 21 women experts from non-governmental organisations, academia, government and cycling organisations. The questions have been framed under the concepts of the SWB, considering emotive and instrumental factors.

The findings show that self-esteem, freedom, empowerment and happiness are some of the emotive factors that have emerged from the analysis of interviews. On the side of instrumental factors, cycling emerges as relevant for women’s care role, entrance to the labour market and for strengthening social relationships leading to the promotion of social capital. Social factors have also emerged, mostly related to the advantages of socialisation, democracy and cycling as a political symbol.

Purpose – The research reported in this chapter focuses on understanding the experiences of women who had decided to return to cycling in adulthood. It was anticipated these experiences could assist other women contemplating taking up cycling as well as cycling lobbyists, policy makers and planners.

Methodology – The research targeted women returning to cycling in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. It was conducted using qualitative research methods including in-depth interviews, helmet-mounted video cameras and diary entries. Forty-nine women participated in the study ranging in age from early 20s to mid-70s.

Findings – Respondents learned to cycle between the ages of 5 and 12 and most stopped in the early years of secondary school. Almost half the respondents had returned to cycling several times through the life course while another significant group had cycled occasionally up to the time of the interview. Women returned to cycling through a combination of circumstances but women in their early 20s emphasised the importance of social relationships while women in their late 30s (and older) stressed concerns about health and fitness. Becoming mothers or grandmothers was given as a reason for both taking up and giving up cycling. Although there was no pattern in the specific trigger that shifted women from ‘thinking about cycling to getting on a bike’, knowing someone who cycled – partner, family member, work colleague or acquaintance – featured in most women's experiences.

Research implications – The findings suggest further research into mobility through the life course will be productive.

Women's sport is said to be experiencing a moment of progress exemplified by the ‘professionalising’ of teams, leagues and events (McLachlan, 2019; Pavlidis, 2020; Taylor et al., 2020). The current ‘professionalising’ moment is celebrated as a measure of incremental change that demonstrates that women's sport is progressing in the right direction (Sherry & Taylor, 2019; Taylor, 2020). In this chapter, we pursue critical questions of progress in relation to professionalisation in women's road cycling. Cycling as a sport commenced in the late 1800s, and women were able to earn money from riding and racing their bicycle. However, the evolution of women's cycling has not been a linear process, (McLachlan, 2016) and despite increased ‘professionalisation’ of women's road cycling, women cyclists lack proper wages, safe working conditions, significant prize money, and suitable economic and career opportunities. Our work draws from data of 15 semi-structured interviews with riders and from extensive fieldwork of elite women's road cycling races in seven different countries in 2019. Our findings illustrate that despite the general perceptions of progress of women's professional road cycling, the cyclists' experiences and rationalisations of their conditions reflect deeper struggles. We argue that struggles over rewards, resources, and recognition are all evidence of the ‘unimpeded sexism’ in sport (Fink, 2016, p. 3), and as such, the professionalising of women's sport does not guarantee transformation of the gender order.

Walking and cycling have a long history in work itself and people travelling to and from work. Who walks and cycles, how they perform those journeys, the precise role that journey plays in the course of the working day and how it is valued are informed by social constructions of gender. Gendering of mobility has a long history and, in many countries, women continue to face challenges when they walk and they continue to be discouraged in more or less explicit ways from cycling. This exploratory chapter draws together literature on occupations, paid and unpaid, that involve walking and cycling as an integral part of collecting and delivering people and things. A wide variety of services are discussed in the literature but the research on the mode of travel for individual services – like food delivery, waste picking, rural health work, ‘mobility of care’ – is limited and there is little attention to gender. Further, any comparative studies tend to be between cities with similar economic status or cultural heritage. This chapter includes research from high, medium and low income countries not to universalise experiences but to identify common themes, and suggest avenues for further research. We argue the inequitable distribution of transport resources, the gendering of bicycling related skills and the masculinisation of public space are pervasive. However, they are also being challenged by women supporting each other, partners supporting wives and communities making opportunities available to all members.

Purpose – This chapter traces the development of cycling in several European countries over the period from the 1880s to the present, with special focus on the two cycling nations, Denmark and The Netherlands.

Methodology – Drawing on a wide array of research on bicycle use in Europe in the twentieth century as well as primary sources, the chapter pays particular attention to the users of the bicycle, their organisations and the mixture of male and female, young and old, and rich and poor, because these users were the people who actually shaped cycling cultures.

Findings – While acknowledging that geographical conditions cannot be fully ruled out as contributing factors, the authors point out that political, social and cultural aspects were all woven together into what would become increasingly distinctive national cycling cultures.

Value – This study provides historical context for recent efforts to increase cycling participation by identifying relevant cultural, social and political factors, and providing insights into the trajectories of Dutch and Danish cycling cultures.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a gendered understanding of women's experience of a mass cycle tour event.

This research uses an ethnographic approach to explore women's experiences of a cycle tour event. Qualitative data are analysed through the conceptual framework of post‐structural feminism.

Key themes included the meaning of women's cycle tour experience as a “shared journey”, the centrality of the “body” in event design (comfort, safety, enjoyment) and an event culture of “respect” (encouragement, skill development, knowledge sharing).

This research is based on a particular sample of women who were largely Anglo‐Celtic, middle to lower middle class and middle aged Australians. Hence, this research does not claim to be representative of all women's experiences. Given the strong focus on quantitative research within event management, this research identifies the need for qualitative and feminist approaches.

The research findings identify a number of gender issues for professionals to reflexively consider in designing, promoting, managing and evaluating mass cycle tour events. The findings have implications for how active tourism events are conceptualised, promoted and managed as gender inclusive.

Developing a gender inclusive approach to events can broaden the participant target market and address equity issues relating to women's participation in physical activity.

There has been little exploration of the gendered experience or management of events in the literature. Hence, this paper contributes to empirical research and theorising of women's experiences of active tourism events.

Sustainable transport is often defined according to energy efficiency and environmental impacts. With global approval during Habitat III, however, a set of Sustainable Development Goals have become the focus for human development until 2030, underlining the relevance of health, equity and other social issues.

These goals raise the challenge of achieving significant progress towards ‘transport justice’ in diverse societies and contexts. While exclusion occurs for different reasons, discrimination, based on cultural roles, combines with sexual harassment and other mobility barriers to limit women’s mobility. This makes gender an area of particular interest and potential insight for considering equity within sustainability and its social components.

Using data from Metropolitan Santiago to ground a conceptual exploration, this chapter examines the equity implications of women’s travel patterns and sustainable transport. Key findings underline the importance of considering non-work trip purposes and achieving better land-use combinations to accommodate care-oriented trips. Moreover, barriers linked to unsafe public transport environments limit women’s mobility and, therefore, their participation. Women account for a disproportionately high number of walking trips, a situation that can be interpreted as ‘greater sustainability’ in terms of energy use and emissions, but suggests significant inequalities in access. Environmental and economic sustainability gains may be achieved at a high social cost, unless specific measures are taken.

Professional road cycling has the capacity to be a major worldwide spectator sport, but has yet, in the eyes of many, failed to realize its full potential. There is a growing awareness that profound reforms are crucial for the sport’s future success. The purpose of this paper is to explore the conditions which the sport must address, and define a new business model for professional road cycling.

The paper uses qualitative data to screen professional road cycling’s current business model, and to present a coherent vision on the changes needed to reform the sport. Information was gathered from archival material and from talks with stakeholders.

The paper presents a blueprint for the future of professional cycling. It identifies 6 vital building blocks and 25 specific action points, beginning with the idea that professional road cycling needs a stable business model that produces a valuable core product.

Professional road cycling is is conservative by nature and changes are extremely difficult to implement. This contribution presents a glimpse of one possible future for professional cycling, if cycling’s policy makers acknowledge the need for profound reforms of the sport and are willing to make the necessary changes.

Purpose – Bicycle riding provides a sustainable and affordable solution to many of the significant problems associated with motorised transport and physical inactivity. The provision of infrastructure plays an important role in encouraging people to begin and subsequently continue to ride bicycles and to do so safely.

Methodology – This chapter describes different types of on- and off-road infrastructure and reviews studies of their effects on rider numbers and safety. In addition, it looks at the roles that end-of-trip facilities and bikeshare programs can play in contributing to bicycle use and general transport sustainability.

Findings – Infrastructure characteristics can influence both perceived and objective levels of safety. It is important to identify and avoid treatments that increase perceived safety but are actually less safe. The type of infrastructure needed or desired differs between current and potential riders and according to trip purpose. Well-designed marked bicycle lanes on roads can reduce crash rates. Safety at intersections can be improved by: advanced green lights for cyclists, short cuts for right-hand turns, brightly coloured bicycle paths and advanced waiting positions for cyclists. Off-road facilities are generally safer, but intersections with roads must be carefully treated. Shared paths and footpaths are risky for older pedestrians (and older cyclists).

Implications – In many countries the provision of more infrastructure that increases the perceived safety of riding is needed to encourage cycling, particularly transport cycling and cycling by women.

The aim of this study is to investigate perceptions of cycle commuting barriers in relation to stage of change, gender and occupational role. Stage of change is a key construct of the transtheoretical model of behaviour change that defines behavioural readiness (intentions and actions) into five distinct categories.

A cross‐sectional online questionnaire was completed by staff and PhD students (n=831) based in cycle‐friendly buildings in a large UK university. The questionnaire included questions relating to demographics, stages of behaviour change and 18 potential barriers. Data were analysed using t‐tests, one‐way ANOVAs and two‐way ANOVAs.

Overall, environmental factors were perceived as the biggest barriers to cycle commuting. However, perceptions of cycle commuting barriers significantly differed between stages of change, genders and occupational roles. Precontemplators, females and support staff commonly perceived greater barriers to cycle commuting compared to maintainers, males and academic staff.

The results indicate that tailored individual‐level behaviour change interventions focusing on reducing perceptions of barriers that take into account stage of change, gender and occupational differences may play a role in encouraging people to cycle to work.

The study reveals evidence of a significant subjective element involved in perception formation of some potential barriers associated with cycle commuting. Women not only hold stronger perceptions compared to males of risk‐orientated barriers but also of more general barriers associated with cycle commuting. The findings also suggest that occupational roles may influence an individual's perceptions of cycle commuting barriers.