Originally Posted by andrewclaus

Do you have a strong enough grip to simply push higher on the lever, say from the hoods? My partner has small hands and was having problems when she first got a bike with drop bar brifters. It turns out there was a cabling problem. I improved routing of the cable and that reduced the effort enough to make it an easy shift from the hoods.

The only way I can think of to change the derailleur travel is to reroute the cable attachment at the derailleur pinch bolt, but that will change the pull ratio and increase the torque needed.