What's stopping women getting on the bike in Canberra?

Only one-fifth of Canberra women rode a bicycle in the past week compared to nearly one-third of men.

That disparity is far less pronounced in the ACT than elsewhere (in Australia more broadly, only one in five men and one in 10 women cycled in the last week).

But Transport Minister Meegan Fitzharris said the government wanted to help overcome the barriers that stopped women from riding.

"The practicality of daily life sometimes [stops] women so that's why we're trying to invest not only in projects like this that show women different ways of getting around the city," Ms Fitzharris said.

Active Travel Office coordinator Anna Gurnhill said personal safety and danger from vehicles were two big reasons why women reported riding less.

"Another one is a concern around helmet hair, needing to wear helmets and having to look presentable at the end destination. Another one is it's inconvenient if women are doing other errands, they've got kids in tow," Ms Gurnhill said.

The helmet problem is one the territory government sought to overcome in its ACT Road Safety Action Plan 2016-2020.

In that, road safety minister Shane Rattenbury flagged the intention to hire an expert to examine the "situational risk of allowing people to ride a bicycle without a helmet in low speed environments such as shared zones, paths and university campuses and any potential benefits arising from increased cycling participation".

A spokesman from the Justice and Community Safety Directorate said that was not a "trial" nor an attempt to relax the laws but rather recognition that helmets were a factor that stopped some people from cycling.

However a 2015 phone poll conducted by the government showed helmet hair accounted for less than 1 per cent of the reasons why people did not ride bikes (age and lack of a bicycle were the two biggest factors).

"We're committed to considering the evidence when it comes to bike riding without a helmet. There's no timeline around this as yet, but it will be fulfilled over the course of the term," a spokeswoman for Mr Rattenbury said.

Meanwhile, a request for tenders for the design of the Belconnen bikeway was released last week.

Ms Fitzharris said she hoped construction would begin soon, pending the finalisation of the route.

"We'll have to consult with the people on the design and on the specifics of the route and we've begun that work with some of our key cycling stakeholders over the last week or so, obviously talking to institutions, the University of Canberra because we know there's a large population of cyclists at the university," Ms Fitzharris said.