Half as many women choose to cycle as a mode of travel as men in Ireland. This is the key finding of our new report called Empowering Women to Cycle, commissioned by Transport Infrastructure Ireland, which sets out a series of recommendations to tackle the issue.
Two women cycling with two children in a cargo bike. From new report called Empowering Women to Cycle, commissioned by Transport Infrastructure Ireland.
This stark fact is consistent with many cycling surveys across the UK and Ireland in recent years, including our Walking and Cycling Index.
The report is also an urgent call to action and sets out a series of recommendations to tackle the issue. After all, if half as many men compared to women were choosing not to drive or take flights there would probably be a national enquiry.
The report notes that most women in Ireland can cycle and have access to a bike, but through a series of workshops the researchers found a complicated interwoven system of infrastructure, personal and cultural factors affecting women’s decisions.
The urgency around tackling the issue is also stark – that enabling more women to cycle will contribute to Ireland’s transition to a more sustainable carbon-neutral and more equitable transport system.
Gender gap starts early
The gender gap begins as early as adolescence, again a fact our Children's Walking and Cycling Index from 2024 highlighted.
Ireland, like many other developed countries, has a dominant car culture. Private car ownership has risen from 0.71 million in 1985 to 2.23 million in 2021, a rise of more than 300%. [Department of Transport, “Irish Bulletin of Vehicle and Driver Statistics 2021,” 2021.]
Getting your driver’s licence and owning a car have long been seen as a desirable rite of passage for most young people. Irish women cited ‘learning to drive’ as one of the main reasons why they stopped cycling.
These two key stages in girls’ and women’s lives should prompt authorities to intervene, for example with behaviour change programmes or cycle hub provision.
Image from new report Empowering Women to Cycle featuring a woman cycling along a riverside in Limerick, Ireland. Credit: Don Moloney
Cycling is both healthy and cost-effective
Women in the survey who do cycle regularly said health was a motivating factor (66%). Enjoyment was also a motivating factor (61%) for cycling regularly.
The National Guidelines on Physical Activity for Ireland suggest adults should have at least 30 minutes a day of moderate-intensity physical activity on five days per week. But according to the Healthy Ireland summary report only 54% of men and just 38% of women meet these targets. This alone is a concerning statistic.
Enabling more women to cycle for everyday journeys could make a huge difference, as women in the study themselves noted. Crucially it eliminated the need for them to find additional time in their day to exercise – time and caregiving responsibilities are notable barriers to women cycling.
Another interesting motivating factor, especially relevant today as fuel prices soar, is cycling being a cheap alternative to the car.
“For our family, it’s just money-saving as well. You know, we don’t need two cars because of it [cycling].”
Statistics from Empowering Women to Cycle report 2026
66%
Health is motivating factor for Irish women who cycle regularly
61%
Enjoyment is a motivating factor for Irish women who cycle regularly
29%
Respondents to survey favoured segregated cycle lanes
27%
Respondents to survey favoured well-lit routes
Barriers to women cycling
So what is preventing more Irish women cycling? There are no surprises here from other research. Safer roads and better specific cycling infrastructure would motivate more women to cycle.
Respondents favoured segregated cycle lanes (29%), well-lit routes (27%), well-connected routes (25%), surfaced traffic free routes (23%), and junctions where cyclists turning or crossing are protected (22%).
Workshop participants observed that ever increasing volume, speed and size of vehicles on the road is detrimental to cycling.
Personal safety is a greater concern for women than men but some women in the study also stated that being on a cycle felt safer than being on foot in some situations.
More women in transport planning
The report notes that Irish women still carry most of the caregiving responsibilities in society and this means they often undertake more complex journeys.
A key recommendation is for more women to be involved in transport planning and that a female perspective is necessary to co-design safe infrastructure that will attract more women to cycle. This was also noted in our 2018 report from Glasgow, ‘Are we nearly there yet? Exploring Gender and Active Travel’.
The importance of this recommendation cannot be underestimated. Economists and urban planners are attributing the success of thriving cities from Paris to Barcelona to the female mayors who have led major transport reforms and rapidly increased cycling.
The challenge is for Dublin, Cork and the rest of Ireland to follow that example.