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Seeing that our numbers are growing, I started looking for a survey that was done about female motorcyclists. Here are a few extracts from the survey:
Since the inception of the first motorcycles in the early 1900?s, men have been the primary consumer and participant of this form of transportation. However, recently more and more women are not only going along for a ride as a motorcycle passenger, they are taking the next step and moving into the driver seat and becoming a new segment of the motorcycle world. With the long-standing stigma of motorcycle riders as bad-boys and hard-core biker gang members, why are women being drawn into this obviously male-dominated world of thrill and danger?
The female rider may not be the kind of person you would expect to see cruising the back roads of the country side. They tend to be well educated women with well paying occupations, which make them powerful consumers. They are safety conscious and well educated on what type of motorcycle works best for them. According to the Ethan Rouen (2004) the Motorcycle Industry Council says that one third of the 3 million female riders are college educated, with professional or managerial positions in the workforce and have a median income of $52,730.
Female riders are safety conscious when it comes to riding a motorcycle, which is indicated by the fact that nearly one-third of female riders have completed a certified Motorcycle Safety Course, which is proportionally more than the entire motorcyclist population. The number of female riders is slowly increasing from 1% in 1960 to 9% in 1999 (p. 1)
Exposure to the motorcycle world, age, stage of life, sense on community, sense of adventure and freedom all seem to be real factors in a woman?s decision to ride. Knowing this, are there identifiable personal characteristics that are common amongst these women? Are they natural born risk takers? If they are, do they take risks in other parts of their lives? Are they rebels trying to fight the stereotypical role of what it means to be feminine or do they believe that even riding a motorcycle they are still very feminine?
Based on these findings, it can be said that the female motorcycle rider tends to be an independent person who is respectful of the potential danger of riding a motorcycle, but who is willing to manage her fear in order to enjoy the freedom of riding her own motorcycle.
For the findings of the whole survey: https://www.instruction.greenriver.edu/bahl/E112/WilcoxFP.rtf.
Since the inception of the first motorcycles in the early 1900?s, men have been the primary consumer and participant of this form of transportation. However, recently more and more women are not only going along for a ride as a motorcycle passenger, they are taking the next step and moving into the driver seat and becoming a new segment of the motorcycle world. With the long-standing stigma of motorcycle riders as bad-boys and hard-core biker gang members, why are women being drawn into this obviously male-dominated world of thrill and danger?
The female rider may not be the kind of person you would expect to see cruising the back roads of the country side. They tend to be well educated women with well paying occupations, which make them powerful consumers. They are safety conscious and well educated on what type of motorcycle works best for them. According to the Ethan Rouen (2004) the Motorcycle Industry Council says that one third of the 3 million female riders are college educated, with professional or managerial positions in the workforce and have a median income of $52,730.
Female riders are safety conscious when it comes to riding a motorcycle, which is indicated by the fact that nearly one-third of female riders have completed a certified Motorcycle Safety Course, which is proportionally more than the entire motorcyclist population. The number of female riders is slowly increasing from 1% in 1960 to 9% in 1999 (p. 1)
Exposure to the motorcycle world, age, stage of life, sense on community, sense of adventure and freedom all seem to be real factors in a woman?s decision to ride. Knowing this, are there identifiable personal characteristics that are common amongst these women? Are they natural born risk takers? If they are, do they take risks in other parts of their lives? Are they rebels trying to fight the stereotypical role of what it means to be feminine or do they believe that even riding a motorcycle they are still very feminine?
Based on these findings, it can be said that the female motorcycle rider tends to be an independent person who is respectful of the potential danger of riding a motorcycle, but who is willing to manage her fear in order to enjoy the freedom of riding her own motorcycle.
For the findings of the whole survey: https://www.instruction.greenriver.edu/bahl/E112/WilcoxFP.rtf.
