Kingston Council apologises over sexist language in e-bike report

A London council has apologised after residents complained of its equalities report which said electric bikes help women ‘perform their traditional domestic responsibilities’ and ‘stay looking nice’.

The Lib-Dem run Kingston Council in south London stated in an equalities assessment report on an e-bike rental contract that the vehicles ‘may increase women’s access to cycling and physical activity by making it easier for women to meet their traditional domestic responsibilities, as well as stay looking “nice” on a bike’.

Enraged locals slated the council for its use of sexist language on Facebook. One person lamented ‘weep, women of Kingston, weep!’, the Daily Mail reported.

One resident complained to the council that the wording was ‘treating women as second-class citizens’.

The unnamed woman said: ‘There is no place for this kind of disturbing statement to be made in today’s society at all, let alone in an equalities impact assessment.’

The council issued an apology, and conceded the language was ‘outdated and inappropriate’.

It published a new report which widened the scope of the report to include ‘the wider population’ as well as women. However, the resident said the wording still did not go far enough.

In the updated report, Kingston said: ‘E-bikes may increase active travel amongst women as well as the wider population by for example enabling carrying of goods or shopping and allowing more complex trip chaining that people with caring responsibilities may face more regularly.’

Writing on social media, the disappointed resident said the revised wording ‘still frames women in terms of assumed roles, rather than providing a balanced, evidence-based assessment’.

Following an ‘investigation’ into the initial report, Kingston Council issued a statement explaining how it landed on the wording in the first place.

It said it came from a ‘direct quote’ from a ‘a peer reviewed academic paper which was used as part of the research to inform the assessment’. The paper was published in Active Travel Studies in 2021 which said electric bikes strengthened and confronted gendered mobility.

The statement continued: ‘While the research quoted highlights how the availability of e-bikes is challenging sexism and making cycling more accessible for some women, we accept that using the quote, especially in isolation and without reference, is likely to cause offence, therefore it should never have been included in the EQIA (equality impact assessment).’

‘This description does not align with the council’s commitments to fairness, inclusivity and protecting the rights of all women and girls. We would like to sincerely apologise for this error and for any offence caused.’

The authority also confirmed that it would review the procedures it uses when conducting Equality Impact Assessments in the future.