Women Make Better Riders

Women make better motorcycle riders because women are able to admit what they don't know.

An important part of being a good rider is humility. Respecting what you do know and don't know are crucial aspects in growing as a rider. The number of women riders on the rise across the U.S., with approximately 27% of all riders being women. But new statistics indicate the amount of motorcycle fatalities are down significantly. Can this be that women are conditioned to accept the humility of being a student more aptly than men?

If that is the case, then we have to ask ourselves why men are so conditioned to have all the answers. I believe this is from centuries of the male dominated hierarchical society in which women were stripped of their rights and treated as the second class. Over thousands of years, women have come into their own, with the help of a few feminists along the way. But men have been trained all this time to be bread winners, providers, and fixers. From boyhood, they are raised to take care of a wife and family, and always have the answers.

In my experience with men I've found that many of them find it difficult to be out-done by a woman, in almost any arena. Few men possess the humility to stand aside and let a woman take charge. Often when this happens, they do so begrudgingly, while still complaining to the other men behind her back. Women leaders such as Margaret Thatcher, Corazon Aquino, Marie Curie and Condoleezza Rice have endured the slings and arrows of not only the men with whom they work, but the media as well. A friend of mine, California Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, was recently called "slut" by Assemblyman Roger Hernandez on the House floor, who muttered this slur under his breath. She simply ignored the insult, as is customary in these situations.

We've come to expect that men will be insulted by women who challenge them and as women, we find ways to cope with this behavior.

One way is to be humble. This humility has grown to serve women well over the years, and now serves them in an entirely new way. Women respect the power and danger of motorcycles. They also are humble enough to be good students, thus becoming conscientious riders.

Also, women typically don't typically show off in the ways men do. That's not to say we don't have the shortcoming of being competitive with one another, but pulling daredevil stunts isn't usually the way we exhibit our prowess.

Not only are women who ride happier than those who do not, they ride safer than their male counterparts.

All of this boils down to create a new breed of riders. Or does it? Is this only a swing of the pendulum? Will we see women become more careless or dangerous as the years go by?

What do you think? I'm curious, so give me your thoughts.