
Gender Balanced Snow Clearance - ebcode
https://info.gritit.com/blog/what-is-gender-balanced-snow-clearance
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Bostonian
Making everything about gender equity is tiresome. Emergency service workers
such as police, firemen, and paramedics need to drive to respond to incidents.
Private citizens can clear the sidewalks in front of their homes and are
sometimes mandated to do so.

~~~
dalke
The article was pretty clear this wasn't about gender equity but about the
mode of transportation.

Quoting the text, " _In fact, it turned out that the pertinent point was not
about gender balancing specifically._ The data showed that three times as many
people were injured while walking in icy conditions in Stockholm than are
injured whilst driving. ... Since the cost of those injuries far exceeded the
cost of the snow clearance, the prioritization was reversed, so now pavements
are done before roads. ... _Bottom line, the policy prioritizes pedestrians
before motorists, and it simply happens that more women are pedestrians._ ...
Ultimately Sweden's reversal of snow clearance prioritization resulted in less
injuries"

Sweden has nationalized health care, so the state pays for injuries due to
both walking and driving.

In the US, the government only pays for road clearing.

If the total cost, including mortality rates for all snow-related issues,
indicates that cleaning the sidewalks first is better, then why not do that?

You write "Private citizens can clear the sidewalks in front of their homes"

In small town Sweden where I live, private citizens _are_ required to clear
their sidewalks. The large apartment complex management companies have their
own small tractor fleet which they use to snowplow and add gravel in winter.

But Sweden has a much more extensive network of bike paths and walking paths
which are not sidewalks in front of someone's home than in the US.

In addition, a larger fraction of Swedes walk or bike than in the US. Consider
that most people in Stockholm probably walk their children to (pre)school,
while in the US most probably drive.

As an analogy, think as if 25% of NYC had to walk across Central Park each
day, while the city didn't clear the Central Park walking paths until after
all the streets were cleared.

