Savita Halappanavar is dead. She joins millions of women who die every year from complications with their pregnancies. What makes her case particularly tragic is that it that she was refused a medical procedure that may have saved her life. Why? Because the procedure was an abortion and she had the misfortune of being […]
Continue readingTag: women
Canadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: U.S. Election 2012: There Was a War on Women, and the Women Won
If you think the big winners of Tuesday night’s election were Barack Obama and the Democrats, you’re wrong. Journalist, opinion writer, and author of two books on progressive politics, Amanda Marcotte, argues, convincingly, that the big …
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: Pat Robertson Can’t Understand Why Women Would Watch Porn (VIDEO)
Pat Robertson, the antiquated host of the 700 Club is shocked—shocked to discover that women do watch and enjoy porn. And masturbate. Apparently, he “always thought this was a male thing, a boy thing, a guy thing.” Meaning: masturbation a…
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Dear Anti-Feminists…
Brilliant repost straight from DAMMIT JANET! – One internetz for those folks over there, stat! “If you are an anti-feminist woman and you vote — even for candidates who’d stop that nonsense in a nanosecond — you didn’t build that. If you are an anti-feminist woman and you
Continue readingLeft Over: Shaking Hands with the Devil You Think You Know….
While the Cons huff and puff and try to simply blow our House of Parliament down, let me play devil’s advocate here and rant about something that no one else (that I’ve been aware of) seems to be mentioning, in all the foofaraw about increasing the golden handshake contributions…
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: "Binders of women", Mitt?
There have been many foot in mouth moments in debates over the years. Think Gerry Ford’s comments in 1976 about how he would not allow the USSR to dominate Poland (of course, Poland had been a client state of Moscow since WW2). Carter saying that his daughter and youngest child
Continue readingSlap Upside The Head: Report Says Women Drivers Cause Homosexuality
Saudi Arabia is one of the only countries in the world that forbids women from driving. Any woman caught behind the wheel there is subject to arrest and lashings. Amidst growing international criticism for this policy, a report prepared for the country’s legislative assembly has been released to justify
Continue readingThe Liberal Scarf: Hudak PC’s support for defunding abortion runs much deeper than a press conference
On International Day of the Girl, Tim Hudak can try to put shiny gloss on the PC Party, he can pretend his party is focused on the economy, but this is what the heart of the Hudak PC Party is, with his frontbench MPP’s sponsoring a news conference supporting the defunding of
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: Australia’s Female PM Assails “Misogynist’ Opposition Leader & Sexism
A political master-stroke of epic proportions. That’s my take on Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s take-down of opposition leader Tony Abbott in this 15-minute speech on sexism in Parliament. OK, let’s put aside the fact that Gillard’s passionate and personal take-down followed Abbott’s attack on the embattled Speaker of the house,
Continue readingopenalex: Seriously Cycling: Bikes Are Getting More Attention All Across Canada
[Here’s my latest post over at @SustainableCitiesCanada ] Anyone who has been cycling in Canadian cities over the past fifteen years knows that things are changing. When I left Montreal for Vancouver in 2002 the city’s streets were still an aggressive dance between bike couriers, cars, and cyclists who wanted
Continue readingopenalex: Seriously Cycling: Bikes Are Getting More Attention All Across Canada
[Here’s my latest post over at @SustainableCitiesCanada ] Anyone who has been cycling in Canadian cities over the past fifteen years knows that things are changing. When I left Montreal for Vancouver in 2002 the city’s streets were still an aggressive dance between bike couriers, cars, and cyclists who wanted
Continue readingopenalex: Seriously Cycling: Bikes Are Getting More Attention All Across Canada
Anyone who has been cycling in Canadian cities over the past fifteen years knows that things are changing.
When I left Montreal for Vancouver in 2002 the city’s streets were still an aggressive dance between bike couriers, cars, and cyclists who wanted to ride like couriers (I’ll sheepishly admit to being one of them). Downtown cycling was only for the brave.
But by the time I returned in 2010 a sea change had occurred: in less than a decade the city had added over 600 kms of bike paths, many covering crucial commuter corridors that connect the length and breadth of the island.
It was like being in another world. Instead of weaving through traffic, I found myself in a curb separated lane with my own set of traffic signals. Cycling – in other words – had become an integral part of the city’s transportation strategy.
Unlikely Leaders
During that time a similar shift began in municipalities all across the country, and it continues to develop as I write. This week Toronto unveiled its first curb separated bike lane, with more to come (although simultaneous plans to remouve other routes have caused controversy). Last year Ottawa became the first city in Ontario to put in similar infrastructure, and has nearly doubled its cycling network since 2000.
Winnipeg has quintupled the amount of money it spends on active-transportation corridors and it will start work on an active-transportation master plan next year. Quebec city is about to adopt a cycling master plan. And this weekend Halifax will conclude public consultations on plans to create its first crosstown cycling corridor. All of these projects are the result of dedicated local activism combined with new interest among local officials.
Recognition that cycling is a real transit solution has spread well beyond traditional leaders. You’d expect Vancouver to be at the front of the pack, but Calgary?
This summer the municipality hired Tom Thivener as its first full-time cycling coordinator. Thivener hails from Tucson (Arizona) where he helped increase bike ridership by 58% between 2009 and 2010. Under his guidance, Calgary is poised to spend $20 million over the next three years to improve commuter cycling infrastructure.
New York city is probably the best example of this trend of unlikely leaders. Would you bike through Manhattan? Following a campaign to introduce cycling infrastructure and reduce conflicts between cyclists, drivers, and pedestrians, cycling increased 26% between 2008 and 2009. Every day more than 200,000 people now bike to work in the Big Apple.
If You Build It (right), They Will Come.
Investments in cycling infrastructure is clearly linked to overall ridership. But there is still a long way to go. Only a small percentage of people in Canadian cities bike to work. The average for most mid-sized and large cities is close to 2%.
There are many reasons to do better. For starters a large portion of urban greenhouse gas emissions are transportation related. But – picking up a thread Sarah posted on earlier this week – bikes are also a great example of the type of holistic solutions that will help us build deeply sustainable cities. Increased cycling, supported by proper cycling infrastructure, has positive impacts on health, air quality, street safety, and overall liveability.
Cycling is a transit option that is accessible regardless of income level. Studies have also shown that building cycling infrastructure creates more local jobs than a comparable amount spent on traditional auto-centric roadways.
Future Cyclists: Women
So what should our objectives be?
Specific targets will vary from city to city. But understanding who cycles now is one powerful way to try to increase future ridership. Currently young men represent the dominant group of cyclists in most cities. A better metric for success is women.
Cycling researchers have highlighted female cyclists in particular as an “indicator species” for the bike-friendliness of a given area. This may have some direct impacts on how we design the next generation of cycling infrastructure. In Tucson, for example, Thivener significantly increased female ridership by focusing on the type of facilities they preferred and putting in place “bike boulevards” rather than on-street bike lanes.
One way or another, creating infrastructure that is safe and appealing to a broader demographic is our next challenge.
Canadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: Alice Walker: Racism, Violence Against Women Are Global Issues (VIDEO)
On the 30th anniversary of the publication of her groundbreaking novel “The Color Purple,” American author, poet and activist Alice Walker sat down with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, and discussed the novel’s enduring legacy, racism, violence against women, Obama’s presidency and global issues. When Goodman probed her role as
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: SCOC grants standing in sex-trade case
The Supreme Court of Canada has done the right thing by agreeing to consider the appeal regarding the prostitution laws in this country. In a 53 page decision and on behalf of a unanimous court (PDF), Associate Justice Thomas A. Cromwell said that while the women who filed the class
Continue readingImpolitical: Putting the Progressive back in the Conservatives?
It’s September, the big back to school month, and Parliament resumes sitting this coming week. Interesting then to note some moves being made by the Harper government, perhaps designed to put a new coat of paint on their tired, right wing shtick. Noted in the past day or so… “Canada
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The End of Men?
The Globe and Mail on Saturday devoted two pages of its Focus section to a discussion of Hanna Rosin’s book, The End of Men. There are a few interesting anecdotes on changing sex roles, but there are no facts cited to substantiate the argument that North America is seeing the
Continue readingCanadian Progressive: Sexism: A Call to Arms for Decent Men
Guys, we have a problem. We are letting way too many boys get into adulthood without actually becoming men. We’re seeing more and more adult males around who are not men.
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Tell Me Again How Progressive the US is?
‘Nuff said. Filed under: Feminism Tagged: Feminism, Materinity Leave, Social Justice, US, Women
Continue readingBlast Furnace Canada Blog: Since when was rape "legitimate"?
Just when we thought VP Joe Biden Jr had shot off his mouth yet again when he said that bank deregulation like what Mitt Romney is proposing would put Americans — blacks in particular — “in chains” (which would not be my choice of words) … … comes this moron,
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The Right Response to “No Job Is A Bad Job”
Last May federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said there was no such thing as a bad job. The Law Commission of Ontario may disagree. This week it put out a report about the rise in vulnerable workers and precarious jobs. Now that he’s heard from executives who think Canadians are
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