Breaking barriers to increase the participation of women in cycling in Nairobi city county

Abstract

As the conversation to decarbonize the transport sector by 2050 is progressing, countries like Kenya are accelerating their investments in sustainable transport. Nairobi City County has adopted a Non-Motorized Transport Policy which commits to increasing NMT budgetary allocations from 2% to 20%. In 2020, a network of walking and cycling paths was constructed to encourage the uptake of NMT in the city. The presence of this infrastructure has however not translated to their full utilization by cyclists who comprise 1% of the modal share in Nairobi. Among these cyclists, 96.9% are male while women comprise only 3.6%. Cycling offers an attractive and sustainable option for women to support their travel patterns and behaviours, which largely entail mobility of care. The purpose of this study is hence to explore the level of uptake of cycling within Nairobi County, the cycling motivations and challenges facing women cyclists, barriers limiting increased uptake of cycling among women and provide policy recommendations on how to promote the participation of women in the cycling as a sustainable and reliable mode of transport. The methodology used comprised questionnaires and focus groups with female cyclists and non-cyclists, key informant interviews, and study tours to cycling events to understand the pain points of cyclists within Nairobi County. Results show that socio-cultural perceptions, safety and security concerns, lack of skills and access to affordable womenfriendly bicycles, and infrastructural constraints are the main impediments to women’s uptake of cycling. The study concludes by providing policy directions on breaking negative socio-cultural perceptions through sustained public awareness and education, prevention of sexual harassment, promotion of safer roads, increasing access to affordable women-friendly bicycles through fiscal incentives, and collection of gender aggregated data on the cycling value chain, which will require robust stakeholder collaboration.