What drives the gender-cycling-gap? Census analysis from Ireland

Cycling rates have been increasing in Ireland over the last ten years, but there is a large difference in male and female participation – only about a quarter of cyclists on Irish roads are female. This paper combines the latest census data with geospatial cycle lane data to explore the drivers of the gender-cycling-gap across 238 electoral districts in Dublin, Ireland. Our core hypothesis is motivated by previous literature which suggests that differences in female risk aversion could partly explain the gap. To test this hypothesis, we explore if areas with safer cycling routes to the city centre have relatively stronger effects for females, controlling for a range of area geographic and demographic factors. Both male and female bicycle participation is negatively correlated with an area's distance to the city, share of apartments and average income, and positively correlated with education. Comparing results across genders shows that the gender-cycling-gap is due to relatively larger negative effects for distance, income and apartments for females, which is partly offset by stronger positive education effects. Routes with very high shares of separated or off-road lanes (top quartile) have significantly higher cycling rates. This effect, although stronger for females, is not statistically different across genders. We highlight a number of gender-based policy recommendations related to cycling infrastructure, bicycle storage and bicycle supports (electric bicycles).