E-bikes, Kingston Council and the impact on women.

[Justme56]

I saw this on X. Kingston Council completed an equality impact assessment on the procurement of e-bikes. Some interesting comments on the PC of sex and how the purchase would impact women. Obviously there were several complaints and an apology from the Council.

Wow talk about misogynistic crap with the crap about our domestic duties and looking "nice" on a bike ffs

Just shows what women are still up against.. The misogyny is only ever just under the surface.

Good god, who authored that shite?

💯

Not the best wording but I don’t think it’s totally unreasonable, some women are put off cycling for similar reasons.

I have one fiercely feminist friend who refuses to cycle anywhere far or up hills because she doesn’t want to get sweaty and loves e-bikes for this reason.

I could well believe more women cycle to work etc now because of e-bikes.

I could well believe more women cycle to work etc now because of e-bikes.

Or they can just use them to get their womanly domestic chores done. Do you think women have to be "fiercely" feminist to use an e-bike, or would they be just as useful for "ordinary" feminists as well?

Christ on a bike.

What a load of shite!

Did the idiot that wrote that time travel to 2026 from the 1920s?

I can't get over the " " around nice

I love e bikes....

But the bike hire companies designed them for men.

Forest have only just started rolling out models with seats that go low enough for many of my shorter friends.

Lime have brakes that need a big hand to reach them.

And most boroughs have stopped you being able to park/ pick up a bike outside a station, sending you instead down random side streets. Just where you want to be standing with your phone out in the middle of the night.

Could you post the link to the pdf file you have captured images from?

I cant read them, so would appreciate the actually pdf file.

thanks

Have found this on their web site where they apologies for out dated and inappropriate comment about women https://www.kingston.gov.uk/your-council/statements/equalities-impact-assessment-content-error

But still cant find the actual assessment. Anyone have the link?

I cycle to work on an ebike but I only know men who have ebikes.
Loads of the female cyclists I know are through family cycling groups. If they want to encourage women to cycle I'd say that's the route.

Very exciting to lean that time travel is possible and that Kingston Council is employing people living in 1952.

Whereas men like to arrive at work covered in sweat?

WTF! If it wasn't serious it would be hilarious!
I'm a woman who now rides a peddle assist ebike( completely legal Liv!) precisely because it helps me up the numerous hills on my commute, not because of my 'domestic responsibilities' or because I want to look 'nice'! My knees certainly prefer it to a manual bike! Saving money in petrol and time sat in non moving traffic is a bigger attraction! Twats!

Absolutely shocking to read in 2026! Sad that this is yet another example of what women have to put up with every day - this attitude bleeds through into everyday life. I feel that we have regressed in the past decade on women’s rights.

or 1852 🙄

You're not wrong. I feel seriously down this evening for some reason, although I know that the law is on the side of women and equality. It's the unnecessary waste of time and energy put into just "holding the line." I feel like we have not progressed one inch in the past 15 years, and, in many ways, we've gone backwards. Every little dent we make in shoring up our legally held rights results in a massively disproportionate amount of some kind of punishment because we dared to stand up for ourselves. I sometimes feel like I've been living in an alternate reality these past 50 years, when we were told that women could "have it all."

Down a side-street where the bike has been abandoned by its previous user, blocking the pavement for wheelchair users and those pushing prams or creating trip hazards for people with mobility issues making it difficult for them to get out of their homes when the doors/gates are blocked.

One of these vehicles narrowly missed slicing my dog in half the other day. I think they should be banned. The rest of this is misogynistic crap.

Are you sure it was a legal e-bike? They are unlikely to go that fast - speed isn't much more than regular bikes, it's only effort that's less. It's also quite hard to tell the difference between e-bikes and regular bikes if they are going along, you have to know what to look for and/or spot the charging socket.

Yes, these are exactly the sort of thing that should be in an impact assessment. Not whether women look 'nice' doing their traditional domestic chores.

That's awful. And to think the Lib Dems run Kingston council!

Next thing they will roll out pink bikes and blue bikes - the pink ones having a basket and a dropped crossbar, so that one's skirt can hang over one's knees and protect one's womanly modesty ....

Reminds me of the time the London Cycling Campaign wrote an article in its newsletter claiming the reason women cyclists don’t like to wear helmets is because it ruins their hairstyles.

Here is the revised assessment. New wording is under "sex". I have a downloaded copy of the original EqIA too.
Revised EqIA Kingston ebike contract

I am the woman who complained to Kingston Council. The EQIA doesn’t seriously assess impacts on women – it mostly relies on stereotypes rather than evidence.
Across sex, age, disability, race and religion, it misses the real issues women face (like safety, affordability, digital access and caring responsibilities), and instead gives generic or token comments.
For example:
•Women are framed through clichés (shopping, childcare) rather than actual barriers
•Older women aren’t analysed at all despite being a large part of the population
•Disability is reduced to mobility/eyesight, ignoring wider needs
•Race and religion focus on narrow or stereotyped groups instead of real local impacts
This matters because evidence shows women face significantly higher barriers to cycling – especially around safety, harassment and infrastructure, which aren’t properly addressed here
Overall, it reads like an appallingly- executed, inadequate tick-box exercise that gives an impression of prejudice, not a proper assessment of how the scheme affects women in practice.