This forum seems obsessed with the perceived differences between men and women!
The survey responses suggest it was a tick box type survey. ie the respondents were given a number of responses to identify with. I don't think its in any doubt that not that many women cycle to work here, compared with some other countries. Ditto men. And I thought most women in Scotland were supposed to want to be so-called "SAHMs" - are they affected by the lack of time to cycle as well? Or is it because they are duifjes?
Of course its cultural. We sometimes forget that Scotland is a tiny country with a population of just over 5 million. Even the tiny Netherlands has more than 3 times as much population. So therefore its probably true to say that most people in Northern Europe don't behave like the Scots.
Scotland now seems to have a culture which is rather risk averse and danger avoidant, and cycling for many falls into that category. And its self perpetuating. So you end up with a society which is not set up for exercise and anything but car use. But it does seem that that is what the majority here want. So the question arises, do you change society to suit you, or move somewhere that suits you better?
I actually keep noticing that it is the men who are exercise resistant, as I see a lot of women in Scotland out running (although this is criticised in the article). Aside from their tendency to draw squiggly patterns on themselves, many of the men here seem exercise averse in a way that is attributed to women in the article. I was swimming laps in my local pool at lunchtime yesterday, the pool was full of recreation swimmers too, mainly women and children. Quite a few young men walked in and immediately made a beeline for the sauna and steam room. None of them actually swam. Presumably that counts as their daily exercise!
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