Is this an old boys' club after all?

I just got back from the CDOT thing at the Garfield Park Conservatory (which was kind of a mistake, seeing as how I should have guessed that it would focus entirely on the west side, where I don't live and seldom go except for pierogies, and that's always by car), and I feel that I must share with you an impression that I got as I was leaving.

I was not the only woman there. I doubt we were even a minority. But nonetheless, there was definitely a male vibe to the affair. I may have been the only woman who asked a question during the Q&A, and I think only one of the people supplying answers was a woman. I would say, for the most part, the men talked and the women listened.

This confused the hell out of me at first. I mean, women are supposedly the ones who are most concerned about their safety and would be more willing to bike transport if only there were more of those separated, protected bike lanes and trails to ride on. Shouldn't they---sorry, we---be speaking up at these meetings? Shouldn't we be exploiting these opportunities to make our presence known, our concerns raised, and our voices heard?

I thought more about it on the L ride back to where my bike was parked, and I remembered that this gender bias in the realm of PowerPoint presentations and Q&A sessions is really more of a general issue in society as a whole than an isolated problem that's particular to bicycling. But still, the matter worries me somewhat.

Are we, as women, just going to accept what the men and women of CDOT have to offer, and once it's in place, find some other reason not to ride a bike to the store? And then watch well-meaning men wring their hands and wonder why women don't bike as much, and tell them the same thing all over again when they think to ask? Because it's a patriarchal society and that's just the way things are?

Screw that. You don't make change by smiling and looking pretty, you make change by making noise. And what better time to make noise than when The Man is right there asking for your input?