Transportation Research Part F 8 (2005) 213–228
www.elsevier.com/locate/trf
Sense and sensibility. A narrative study of older
womenÕs car driving
Anu Siren
a
b
a,*
, Liisa Hakamies-Blomqvist
a,b
Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 9, FIN-00014 Helsinki, Finland
Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute, VTI, SE-58195 Linköping, Sweden
Abstract
The present study uses a qualitative approach to examine the personal meanings older women attach to
cars and driving. The data consist of 10 narrative interviews with Swedish women aged 69–87, carried out in
2002. In the analysis, a social constructionist perspective was combined with a narrative approach focusing
on how the women described the important actors and their respective positions during different periods of
their driving histories. In addition, a life-course perspective and feminist theorizing on marginalization
influenced the analysis. The aim of the study was to better understand the social reality surrounding older
womenÕs driving and the mechanisms that marginalize women as road users throughout their life course.
Two main themes emerged, reflecting the ‘‘sense and sensibility’’ of driving; i.e., personal meanings related
to its practicality and to its experiential nature. These two themes were often constructed as polarities in the
intervieweesÕ talk, as if the lust and splendour of cars and driving only were legitimate for (older) women if
practiced within a socially acceptable framework of practicality and care-taking duties. Overall the present
findings illustrate how (older) womenÕs experiences on the traditionally male arena of driving are not fully
embedded into our cultural conceptions and norms, and how the marginalization of women drivers is further reproduced.
Ó 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Driver; Women; Older; Narrative; Life course; Marginalization
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +358 9 191 29541; fax: +358 9 191 29521.
E-mail address: anu.siren@helsinki.fi (A. Siren).
1369-8478/$ - see front matter Ó 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.trf.2005.04.008
214
A. Siren, L. Hakamies-Blomqvist / Transportation Research Part F 8 (2005) 213–228
1. Introduction
As car drivers, older women are situated in the margins. The marginalization takes place both
in the cultural imagery of driving and in the actual travel behaviour. The cultural imagery of cars
and driving invariably excludes older women. Masculinity, youthfulness, speed, status and power
are deeply embedded in the cultural images of car and driving (Berger, 1986; Hubak, 1993; Lewis
& Goldstein, 1983; Sachs, 1992; Scharff, 1991)––all qualities not attached to images of older
women (Sherman, 1997; Vakimo, 2001). The gendered imagery of driving and transport can be
seen as part of the wider cultural and historical conceptions about gender, space, and genderappropriate ways of acting (Scharff, 1991; Wachs, 1987; see also Leed, 1991).
Various statistics on car use and travel behaviour show that both gender and age are significant variables in explaining discrepancies in driving and travel. Both in Europe and North
America, compared to men, women are less often licensed as drivers and drive shorter distances (Polk, 1998; Rosenbloom, 2000). Older persons in general hold relatively fewer licenses
and travel less than other age groups. Within the older driver population, older women form a
further marginalized group, and traveling least of all age-gender groups (Polk, 1998; Rosenbloom,
1995).
The socio-cultural invisibility and the relatively small number of older women drivers is partly a
cohort-related phenomenon: many of todayÕs older women have never driven. As the baby-boom
generations age, both the relative and absolute number of older women drivers is expected to significantly increase (e.g., Burkhardt & McGavock, 1999). Although relatively larger share of men
than women acquire license in every cohort, in consequence of womenÕs longevity older women
will eventually outnumber older men in the driver population as the younger driver cohorts reach
old age. In the US, older women drivers have already slightly outnumbered their male counterparts: of drivers aged 65 and over, 51.5% are women (FHWA, 2001). In Europe, this trend is
expected to follow somewhat later (Rosenbloom, 2000). However, in addition to cohort effects,
another important factor creating the presently found gender difference in driving in old age is
older womenÕs early driving cessation. Women are more likely to voluntarily stop driving than
men (e.g., Hakamies-Blomqvist & Wahlström, 1998; Jette & Branch, 1992) and they often do
so prematurely, that is, while still fit to drive (Siren, Hakamies-Blomqvist, & Lindeman, 2004;
see also Eberhard, 1996; Hakamies-Blomqvist & Wahlström, 1998). Driving cessation is a highly
gender-related phenomena: for example, in Finland, in the 1990s, approximately 30% of women
drivers did not renew their driver license at the age of 70, whereas the corresponding share of men
was only approximately 5%.
Paradoxically enough, older women are the ones most in need of cars for their personal transportation. They have a higher prevalence than men of several long-term diseases which impair
their physical mobility (Arber & Cooper, 1999; Leveille, Penninx, Melzer, Izmirlian, & Guralnik,
2000) and limit their possibilities to enter traffic as pedestrians or bicyclists. Any health conditions
affecting walking also affect access to public transportation, making walking to the stops and
ingress and egress of the vehicles more difficult. Older women also are more often afraid of falling
than older men (Meyers et al., 1996; Tinetti & Powell, 1993), which may further limit their
mobility after driving cessation. With age, an increasing part of older women live alone (see
e.g., Arber & Ginn, 1991) and the easy option of being chauffeured by a spouse will not be available for them.
A. Siren, L. Hakamies-Blomqvist / Transportation Research Part F 8 (2005) 213–228
215
As pointed out by Hakamies-Blomqvist (2003), losing oneÕs mobility is not only a personal
tragedy, but also a public health issue through a chain of interrelated mechanisms. Social and
physical activity and independency are preconditions for maintaining functional capability
(Alvlund, Lund, Holstein, & Due, 2004; Mack, Salmoni, Viverais-Dressler, Porter, & Garg,
1997), and in many cases, to live an autonomous, non-institutionalised life. Loss of independence
in old age is connected with a decrease in individualÕs well-being (e.g., Farquhar, 1995; Marottoli
et al., 1997), and with an increase of both private and public costs (Guralnik, Alecxih, Branch, &
Wiener, 2002). Staying active and independent in old age is also in line with World Health Organizations recent emphasis on Active Ageing. The connection between independent mobility and
health makes older womenÕs premature driving cessation problematic, in view of its negative consequences for independent mobility.
Previous research has shown that for women, personal driving history is a significant predictor
for driving cessation or continuation in old age (Hakamies-Blomqvist & Siren, 2003). That is,
women with limited driving experience are likely to prematurely stop driving. This finding implies
that older womenÕs mobility problems are life course issues rather than issues of just old age.
Women make choices throughout their life course that have an impact on their driving and travel
patterns; eventually, these choices result in that the majority of women gain quantitatively and
qualitatively more limited driving experience than men and often give up driving earlier than
men. The decision to drive only very little or not at all does not necessarily affect a womanÕs
mobility options earlier in the life course: in old age however, as the choice of transportation
options narrows, the mobility consequences can be dramatic.
It is common social psychological knowledge that attitudes, socio-cultural expectations and
values affect behaviour and that opposing those norms causes stress. The significant gender differences in driving and travel found at all ages can be explained with the socio-culturally embedded
gender regime in different arenas and institutions of everyday life (Connel, 1987). That is womenÕs
decision to not to drive or drive only a little is often a way to adjust oneself to the prevailing gender regime and to act in a socially and culturally appropriate way. Further, gender differences in
driving and the consequent mobility patterns and problems can be viewed as constructed by the
gender regime and by different gendered conventions of everyday life. Since traffic research rarely
approaches travel behaviour from a social constructionist viewpoint, these mechanisms have
mostly remained unreachable in the previous research. There are few earlier efforts in traffic
research aiming at understanding similar socio-cultural mechanisms: e.g., EisenhandlerÕs (1990)
and RotheÕs (1994) studies on the reluctance to give up driving as identity construction issue. Both
these studies examined and analysed the personal meanings attached to cars and driving in order
to understand driving-related behaviour and interpreted meanings as representations of the social
reality. They demonstrated that especially for older men, retaining a driver license and continuing
driving in old age represented a significant way to ward off an ‘‘old age identity’’. Driving symbolised for men a positive and vital status. Similarly, understanding the social reality that surrounds older womenÕs driving should make it possible to understand older womenÕs choices
related to driving (e.g., early voluntary driving cessation).
In the present study, we wanted to accommodate both a life course perspective and a view of
the socially constructed nature of older womenÕs mobility. To our knowledge, there are no previous studies taking these perspectives into account. In the present study, we examined the personal
meanings that older women attach to driving in their narratives of their personal driving history.
216
A. Siren, L. Hakamies-Blomqvist / Transportation Research Part F 8 (2005) 213–228
The aim of the study was to better understand the special socio-cultural features of older womenÕs
driving, and further, the marginalization process of older women drivers. The theoretical framework of the present study thus combines the perspectives of social constructionism, life-course
perspective, and feminist theorizing about marginalization.
2. Materials and methods
The data of the present study come from 10 interviews with Swedish women aged 69–87, carried
out in 2002. The interviews were conducted by two individual researchers with background in
transportation research. All participants had previously been car drivers and eight of them still
drove at the time. The interviews were unstructured and the participants were encouraged to tell
in their own words about their driving history. Some of the materials contain longer narratives,
while some consist of more direct question–answer interviewing. The questions posed to the participants included issues such as beginning to drive, car use along the life course, personal meanings related to the car, and driving cessation. All interviews were tape recorded and transcribed
verbatim. The duration of the interviews varied between 1 and 2 h.
In the present studyÕs qualitative analysis, we combined a social constructionist approach and
narrative analysis as the main analysis tools. Qualitative methods have rarely been applied in the
field of traffic research, and especially in the field of traffic gerontology. They are however adequate especially when attempting to conceptualise a previously unknown research issue or when
attempting to gain an in-depth understanding about certain phenomenon (Denzin & Lincoln,
1994). The research questions we were engaged with in the present study deal both with a largely
unknown research issue (older women drivers) and an issue that requires more in-depth understanding (socio-cultural aspects of older womenÕs car driving), and a qualitative approach was
therefore deemed most appropriate.
In the analysis, our overall interest was in the meanings attached to car and to driving. The
analysis of the material was conducted in two stages. First, a content analysis was applied in order
to find emerging themes and patterns in the data. In the content analysis we exclusively worked up
material and parts of material that dealt with personal meanings of driving. The content analysis
was made jointly, and all researchers agreed on the content classifications and grouping criteria.
After a content analysis we proceeded to the in-depth analysis of selected themes and patterns
that emerged from the material in the content analysis. Adopting a social constructionist
approach, the analysis here was focused on the meanings constructed with language use. The social constructionist perspective implies an active selection in language use, that is, that certain linguistic resources are included in the communication while some are omitted (Potter & Wetherell,
1987). Hence, in the analysis we focused on how the respondents chose to describe their car driving. Also, a narrative analysis was applied: on the analysis and interpretation process we specifically focused on the narrative flow, the agents, and positions. Therefore, some of the excerpts
presented in this paper are rather long.
Those parts of the interviews used as excerpts in the present paper have been translated from
Swedish into English. In the excerpts, the interviewers are indicated with I (interviewer), and the
interviewees with letter W and a running number (for example, W3 stands for 3rd interviewed
woman). In the transcripts, pauses in talks are marked with three dots and where ever a word
A. Siren, L. Hakamies-Blomqvist / Transportation Research Part F 8 (2005) 213–228
217
or words have been removed to increase clarity, (. . .) is added. All names of places have been
abbreviated to initial only to protect the privacy of the interviewees.
3. Findings and interpretation
3.1. Sense and sensibility: Two themes from the content analysis
In the content analysis, we identified two main categories of emerging themes and patterns
related to personal meanings of driving. First, there were meanings that were clearly grounded
to the practicality of car use. The participants argued around practical gains they achieved with
driving, e.g., possibility to chauffeur others and a more effective management of various duties.
Second, there were meanings that were grounded in the experiential quality of car use and driving.
Here, the participants described the subjective and emotional qualities that driving had for them,
e.g., as a tool for achieving and demonstrating independence and as their private space. A summary of the categories and themes emerging from the material in the content analysis is outlined
in Table 1.
3.2. Pure sense: The practical gain of car driving
Highlighting the practicality of car use was a strong emerging theme in the material. It was
mentioned often and with emphasis. Temporally, this theme was present in all parts of the narratives but was especially pronounced in talks about the motivation to begin driving, as illustrated
in the following two excerpts:
Table 1
Meanings attached to a car from the content analysis
Number of mentions
Practical meanings
Chauffeuring others
Personal mobility
Meanings related to responsibilitiesa
Maintaining a life-styleb
Car better than other travel modes (concrete and practical justifications)
Car worse than other travel modes (concrete and practical justifications)
66
26
21
3
3
9
4
Experiential and emotional meanings
Luxury
Independence
Freedom
Other positive meaning
A negative experiential/emotional meaning
Car better than other travel modes (experiential justifications)
Car worse than other travel modes (concrete and practical justifications)
38
7
5
7
14
1
3
1
a
b
Meanings related to taking care of social responsibilities with the car, e.g., nursing or taking care of someone.
Meanings related to e.g., being able to maintain certain hobbies with the use of a car.
218
A. Siren, L. Hakamies-Blomqvist / Transportation Research Part F 8 (2005) 213–228
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
W3: The reason I acquired it [a driver license], well it was because
we had a summer cottage in Y and it was a terrible job to get
there because there was a bus that drove to Å but there we
had to wait each time one hour before getting further. With the
luggage and all trouble. Sometimes there was somebody to give us a
ride but in the end I became mad and said ‘‘either we get a car or we
sell the cottage’’. And my husband said ‘‘Well I can get a car if you get
a driver license’’. ‘‘And thatÕs whatÕs going to happen’’ I said and
hence I enrolled for driving lessons.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
W10: With a driver license it was so that I became a little curious. KE
(the husband) drove really a lot because of his job. So it was that way
and there was no chance that I would sit behind the wheel. But then I
though that we should have a driver license. And it was the children
who thought so too . . . (. . .) So I decided to give it a try but it wasnÕt so
much fun.
6. I: Really?
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
W10: No, I didnÕt like it. I was a bit uneasy with the theory, because of
KE, he had driven so much you know that I had kind of got the
(practical) idea of driving just by sitting next to him. But then I got the
license anyway, although I failed the first time, but it wasnÕt the theory
but the inspector just failed every fourth candidate. He wanted to show
his power you know. But it went well after all. So then I thought like
now I can drive a car, and I asked KE if I could borrow the car. I
wanted to go to a hairdresser, to a workshop, can I take the car? ‘‘I
can drive you’’ said KE. That really took me back to reality. He was
afraid that something would happen to the car! Then I thought, well
to have a driver license is not the same as to drive. It just is not.
18. I: How did you feel about it?
19. W10: Well I felt like, well that I will stop being bothered about it. I
20. donÕt know, I though that weÕll see . . .
In these two excerpts, both interviewees describe the practical aspects of their motivation to get
licensed. In addition to the practical tone, they choose to present the expected gain as a gain for
the whole family, not just for themselves. The second one even uses the plural form: ‘‘we should
have a driver license’’ (line 4). In the material, this was a typical way of talking about driving, and
especially about the decision to start driving. There was usually a larger social context for
the commencement and there were invariably several actors present in the narratives. In the previous excerpts, the husband is in a significant role in both womenÕs stories. In the second
womanÕs description, the husband even regulates his wifeÕs driving––the gender regime is clearly
being reproduced in the story regarding the interaction between the woman and her husband.
A. Siren, L. Hakamies-Blomqvist / Transportation Research Part F 8 (2005) 213–228
219
Interestingly in the first story, however, despite the husbandÕs significant role in the narrative, the
woman presents herself as an active subject, the one who makes the final decision and, eventually,
the person mainly responsible for achieving the common gain (lines 8–9).
As identified in the contents analysis, common gain, better mobility options for both the interviewee and her family, and social responsibility were some of the most important contents of the
practical meanings attached to the car use. In the following excerpt these aspects of driving are
highlighted:
1. I: Earlier, when you still worked, how did you use the car at that
2. time?
3. W8: Yes, for getting to and from work. I also drove a lot to S
4. where my mother lived. That I used to do always.
5. I: And you had a little cottage too . . .?
6.
7.
8.
9.
W8: When I was married you mean. . . when A and S were small. Back
then we lived in V and had a little boat in L so there
was a lot of driving there of course. We had a cottage for some years
in K also. So, there has been quite a bit of driving.
10. I: And you have chauffeured the kids?
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
W8: Oh yes. [. . .] the car had also that purpose back then, I remember
that they [children] were in music school too and one had to chauffeur
them there as well. It was one hour [lesson] so there was no point of
driving back and forth home so I sat in the car and wrote my reports
[while waiting]. So there was a little bit of car driving there . . . yeah.
In the previous excerpt, within the practicality discourse, we also identified a discourse of social
responsibility in the intervieweeÕs talk. When she mentions her mother whom she visited with the
car, she emphasises that she used to do that always (line 4). Further, when originally asked how
she used the car, she exclusively lists different duties she carried out with the car: visiting old
mother, getting family to recreational activities, and chauffeuring children to their hobbies. Also
the closures of each sentence on lines three (‘‘that I used to do always’’), eight (‘‘so there has been
quite a bit of driving’’), and 15 (‘‘so there was a little bit of driving there’’) emphasise the duty-like,
and responsibility-related meaning of the car. Social responsibility as an important dimension of
the practicality of a car is in line with findings about womenÕs car use in general: it is often related
to household activities (Cassell, Lawson, & Snelson, 1993) and chauffeuring (Hakamies-Blomqvist, Henriksson, Anund, & Sörensen, in press; Rosenbloom, 1993).
How should the strong emergence of the practical theme in the material be interpreted? We
interpreted it in two ways. First, the practicality discourse that highlights the practical meaning
of the car and presents womenÕs driving as serving the common good is a socially appropriate
way of talking of and signifying womenÕs driving. Taking social responsibility, nursing and
220
A. Siren, L. Hakamies-Blomqvist / Transportation Research Part F 8 (2005) 213–228
helping others also are strongly embedded into the norm of the ‘‘natural woman’’ (e.g., Rich,
1976) and thus executing these duties with the help of the car appears as a way to act along
the norms. This interpretation of social appropriateness was further supported by a kind of moral-talk that was identified in the intervieweesÕ narratives. By moral-talk we mean ways to use rhetorics where altruistic and practical, versus personal, subjective and experiential reasons for
driving, as two opposite poles, create a charged situation. When using moral-talk, the interviewees
spoke about the meanings car had for them but argued by turns for practical and common good
meanings and for emotional and experiential meanings:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
W4: [. . .] during the last years when I had all this extra . . . all this
charity work too . . . then actually I used the car really a lot.
I could have always used the bus too but I drove a lot. Oh I remember
how it was during the last years when I worked at the office here in the
downtown and we had a parking lot near the town hall square and I
tried to work my way to the parking spot . . . (oh) that has always been a
problem . . .
But I could have taken the bus too because it goes right there and I
didnÕt have so much stuff to carry with me either. . .
No I did have, I also worked at retirement house and took care of all
the things there . . . (. . .) And it happened too that I had to go from
one retirement house to another so the car was really practical for
me at that time. But after that it has been easier to walk and bike too . . .
but it [the car] feels like a very useful . . . it is clear that it is useful if
one has to drive to V [summer place] and so on.
Surely it is so. One couldnÕt have had that place without a car, right?
The previous excerpt is a vivid example of the moral-talk. The moral discourse and the polarities between duty and enjoyment are notably present. The interviewee talks by turns about both
the subjective experiences and comfortableness of driving (lines 3–9) and about the practicality
and the moral legitimation of car use (lines 1–2, 10–15). The narrator also balances between
the practicality of driving and the alternative modes of transport. In the end, she chooses to
sum up, mentions the familyÕs summer cottage and summarises ‘‘Surely it is so. One couldnÕt have
had that place without a car, right?’’ (line 16). We view the moral-talk as representing the negotiations women drivers have to do in order to take active positions on the arena of traffic and
driving.
In addition to social appropriateness, another way to interpret the emergence of the practical
theme is to view it as a reflection of a general, gender-specific way to experience and signify car
and driving. The majority of the women in the cohort studied here have indeed throughout their
life course reproduced the traditional female roles of caring and nursing. These roles and acts have
a significant meaning for these women, and the life-long role of a carer often plays a significant
part in gaining and maintaining the feeling of self-efficacy and competence. Thus, even the meanings these women attached to the car were constructed through the ways cars enabled them to take
responsibility, nurse, and maintain their familyÕs well-being. Despite reproducing and strengthening the traditional roles of women, we interpret this phenomenon not solely as a reflection of
A. Siren, L. Hakamies-Blomqvist / Transportation Research Part F 8 (2005) 213–228
221
womenÕs marginalized position in driving or elsewhere in society per se. Constructing meanings
through these acts can alternatively be interpreted as the womenÕs way to take active subject positions and to gain control over various things. As the first excerpt illustrated, reproducing the feminine care-takerÕs role is not in conflict with taking an active subject position. Further, taking
responsibility and care of others combines caring in the altruistic sense with execution and manifestation of power, control, and efficiency. Further, ‘‘serving’’ others can be a significant part of
identity construction as the following excerpt illustrates:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
W7: I have been so glad over the fact that I drive a car because of
the possibility to chauffeur people. There are many whom I have
driven to the hospital. They have just called and so I have taken care
of it. I have been so glad to do that, I have said, ‘‘just ring me and IÕll
drive you’’. And there are some who chauffeur and take money for it
and of course it costs . . . and the people have wanted to pay me 20
crowns to get a ride. ‘‘Never Ever’’ I have said to them, they can just
give that to the charity or something. Never ever would I want to get
paid. Why should I be paid for giving people a ride . . .
10. I: Have you driven them when you have had some other errands to
11. take care at the same time or have you made the drives especially for
12. them?
13. W7: Yes, I have driven especially because of them too. But why should
14. I be paid for that, for doing a favour.
15. I: But they are friends you have driven?
16. W7: Mostly. But also others. But it is all thanks to the fact that I have
17. a car. How privileged have I been to have it . . .
In the previous excerpt, the interviewee presents a description on the carÕs meanings and relevance. On the first and overt level, the description presents car driving as a practical matter
enabling altruistic care and service. However, on another level, car driving also clearly holds a personal significance. The narrator uses the expression ‘‘glad (. . .) the possibility to chauffeur’’ which
is repeated on several places on the beginning of the excerpt (lines 1 and 4), and she repeats several
times that she refuses to take money for rides (lines 7, 8, 9, and 14). The description that the interviewee gives here can be interpreted even as a construction of an altruistic identity where the car
indeed is a tool for constructing and manifesting the self (cf., Holstein & Gubrium, 2000). It is
notable, that in her talk also other people, including the interviewer, are strongly present, and
her identity is also constructed for them to perceive and evaluate.
This previous description, and some others similar to it, cannot unequivocally be interpreted as
narratives implying only the sense and practicality of driving. A closer examination of the material
often disclosed that the practical meanings of a car came close or were intertwined with the experiential and subjective meanings.
222
A. Siren, L. Hakamies-Blomqvist / Transportation Research Part F 8 (2005) 213–228
3.3. Sensibility: The lust and splendour of car driving
The other emerging theme in the material covers the experiential, and emotional meanings attached to a car. Although the descriptions too often handled ordinary everyday life activities they
were described in a vivid and emotional way, like in the following excerpt:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
W9: But when one just wants to get on the road, the freedom to be
able to drive, or to get to the country side. Before (the driving
cessation) I was able to drive with my women friends and drive and go
to swimming and sunbathing, take a picnic hamper with us, just sit
and . . . like last year we just sat somewhere, were able to sit and watch
the water . . . Boats and all that, and then drive home. I miss that.
The narrator of the previous excerpt had had to give up driving due to problems with vision.
She indicates her dissatisfaction with the present situation and chooses to do that by describing
the emotional and subjective experiences attached to car use. In her description, the car driving
gets added value by representing a certain kind of lifestyle and the possibility to maintain it. In
this description, the car also gets to represent lifeÕs small delights, the silver lining of everyday life.
Overall, we identified two types of descriptions of the carÕs experiential meanings. First, there
were meanings attached to the car that represented traditional cultural conceptions and images of
cars: freedom, speed, status, luxury, and privacy (see e.g., Sandqvist, 1997; Urry, 1999). Within this
discourse, there was also a considerable amount of so-called car-talk: descriptions of the technical
features of the car but in an experiential perspective. The emergence of these descriptions contradicts SandqvistÕs (1997) claim that this is a masculine way of signifying the car that women do not
typically use. The following excerpt illustrates the experiential car-talk found in the material:
1. W10: when I got to drive the Peugeot, that was a soft and lovely car, it had
2. the . . . what is it . . . when the wheel is light?
3. I: Powersteering
4. W10: Powersteering. That was the first one with that. I really liked it a lot.
5. And then there was, KE changed the car so often you know, yes I got to try
6. also a Mercedes . . .
In the previous excerpt, the interviewee describes the technical aspects of her car, the comfortableness of certain technical features of her car, and the pleasure of driving different kinds of good
and comfortable cars. This way of talking about the car is in line with traditional images of cartalk (Sandqvist, 1997). However, there is an identifiable feminine nuance in the talk when the
interviewee uses expressions like ‘‘soft and lovely car’’ (line 1). We interpreted this as a genderspecific, even feminine, feature.
Another type of descriptions of the carÕs subjective and experiential meanings was more closely
tied to gender-specific experiences as a driver. In the womenÕs talk, meanings related to independence and emancipation were often emphasised. In previous research, these aspects of driving have
A. Siren, L. Hakamies-Blomqvist / Transportation Research Part F 8 (2005) 213–228
223
received only little or no attention (see however Cassell et al., 1993; Siren, 2002). This might imply
that these types of meanings attached to a car are specific for women: since womenÕs car driving
has been studied only little, these aspects have not been reported before. Also, the interpretation
that independence and emancipation belong to womenÕs core experiences of driving but not so
much to menÕs is legitimate, especially in the cohort studied here. Taken the historical context,
the option for car driving has meant a significant change in terms of independent mobility and
social and cultural emancipation for these women. The emancipatory discourse found in the material is illustrated in the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
W3: I had a license for a baby carriage, I was good at that! Then we
bought this car. Back then I worked at a swimming hall, in the 60Õs.
and when we moved I wanted to have my own car. And after that I
started to seriously drive.
5. I: When you got your own car, that was when you started to use it
6. for grocery shopping and such?
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
W3: Yes, and to what ever I wanted. Naturally I also drove to and
back from work. And I remember that I had a lot of patients, who
yackety yaked all the time you know. So before I went back home to my
four kids I used to drive to the forest roads. Just drove relaxed and
cooled down, before I got to go home to listen to all that childrenÕs
yackety yak . . .
In the previous excerpt, the interviewee describes the concrete independence and freedom of
mobility that the car provides. With her car, the woman was able to move about where ever
and whenever she chose to, which extended her physical and social latitude. In addition, we
can identify a vivid narrative about womanhood and space in the excerpt from lines 8–12. The
images here are used for creating a gender-specific sense of freedom, which extends her physical
and social latitude as a woman. She describes the privacy and own personal space the car provided
for her. In her description, the car works as her own private space (and time) between the patientsÕ
needs (she worked as a physiotherapist) and the needs of her children and other domestic responsibilities. Here the description indeed reflects the emancipatory discourse, and comes close to the
classic description of ‘‘a room of oneÕs own’’ by Virginia Woolf (1929/1930).
The overall interpretation we made of the experiential themeÕs emergence is built upon the
dynamical play between the practical and experiential meanings. As illustrated earlier with the
moral-talk that often characterised the practical descriptions, a notable feature of the material
was that practical and experiential descriptions were often situated in connection with each other
and there often was a charged or polarised play between ‘‘sense’’ and ‘‘sensibility’’. There were
also experiential descriptions without overt moral charges, but often the dynamics could be found
in a more detailed close-up reading. In these descriptions, in contrast to those overtly tangled with
moral discourses, the women enjoyed their driving in a way that seemed unproblematic and they
presented themselves as abandoning themselves to pleasure:
224
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
A. Siren, L. Hakamies-Blomqvist / Transportation Research Part F 8 (2005) 213–228
W10: (. . .) My women friends tell me how lovely it is that I have a
car and can drive. One feels so unbound, I think it is wonderful. And I
think itÕs delightful. I have my daughter living in G and I
always tell her that I will drive down there. And she says ‘‘No, you
have to take a bus!’’. She had told her friends that her mama is
coming down with a car and they had asked, like, ‘‘How old is she
anyway?!’’, and she replied ‘‘80 years old’’. And they went like ‘‘No, I
canÕt believe it’’. But I just think it is so delightful. In the winter I donÕt
drive there but otherwise I do as I have used to do. ThatÕs what I
should be doing.
11. I: Can you tell me how does it go along when you drive there?
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
W10: Yes, I just drive past J and I do not have to drive
across the city because they live in V F. So it is
really easy . . .I tell them that I take a break in driving but I do not
do that always . . . Because I think . . . I like, I enjoy the driving. It is
so relaxing and lovely when I sit behind the wheel. But I sometimes
stop and shop little bit of something, something they would like, bread
and other stuff that is different there. But I think it is lovely to drive
even though one should take a break. (. . .) I like it when sitting behind
the wheel and not feeling tired or anything.
In the previous excerpt, the woman tells in a seemingly unproblematic way about the enjoyment
related to car driving. The narrating woman clearly enjoys the position where she has the right
and the lust to enjoy driving––against all expectations. On the other hand, if older womenÕs enjoyment in driving were socially fully acceptable, the narrative here would not need the contradictory
and deconstructive feature that it now has at the point where the woman describes her daughterÕs
and daughterÕs friendsÕ and familyÕs reactions on her driving (lines 4–8 and 14–15). In that sense,
in a closer reading it is possible to find a dynamical play between sense and sensibility even here.
The entanglement of the two themes was a major feature all over the material. According to our
interpretation, this two-sidedness captures the essence of womenÕs driving and is a key feature
when trying to unravel the marginalization process and its mechanisms.
4. Discussion
The present study examined the personal meanings older women attach to cars and driving in
their narratives of their personal driving history throughout the life course. The aim was to better
understand the social reality surrounding older womenÕs driving and the mechanisms that marginalize older women as road users.
In the material, we identified two emerging themes: meanings related to the practical aspects of
car use and meanings related to experiential aspects of car use. The interrelationship between
these two themes was dynamic. They were constructed mostly as somewhat contrasting polarities,
A. Siren, L. Hakamies-Blomqvist / Transportation Research Part F 8 (2005) 213–228
225
which we interpret as a reflection of our societyÕs everyday life gender regimes, social appropriateness, and cultural norms. Practical discourse was clearly presented as being the appropriate discourse of (older) women and driving, while the experiential discourse was presented as more
morally precarious, in need of defence, although at the same time the vividness and intensity of
the talk on the subjective and emotional qualities of car driving implied that they were very important meanings.
The practical discourse in the narratives often included further references to social responsibilities, care taking, and altruism and it thus reproduced the traditional positions of women as caretakers. In descriptions of this type, car and driving were presented as mere practical tools for care
taking. Some researchers have suggested or implied that womenÕs driving patterns and their willingness to stop driving in old age reflect womenÕs overall remote personal interest in cars and driving (e.g., Burkhardt, Berger, & McGavock, 1996; Sandqvist, 1997). In other words, womenÕs
driving patterns and driving related choices would be a reflection of something that is an essential
feature of womanhood. Interpreting the emergency of the practical discourse as a discourse of
‘‘the practical caring tool’’ only would indeed be in line with these assumptions. However, further
analysis of the material showed that in the practicality discourse it is an action rather than a feature that is described. To reproduce the traditional roles through driving is an acceptable way of
taking active subject positions in the gendered arena of traffic. The findings that the caretaker role
and an active subject position were not in contrast in the womenÕs talk supports this. To sum up,
these women not only used cars to reproduce traditional female roles, but also used the roles to
get hold of the car in a legitimate way. However, although these care-taking acts enable active
subject positions, in a larger context they are also acts that reproduce the female-typical driving
and travel patterns and thus marginalize women as road users in their life course.
The experiential meanings were often intertwined with practical meanings in order to become
more legitimate. In addition, some of the experiential meanings were practical in their overt form
(e.g., car as a tool to serve others) but prove out to have very experiential meanings for the individual (e.g., helping others with a car as an essential part of identity construction and a way to
gain control). However, a clear conclusion from a closer analysis of the experiential meanings
is that there are meanings that women, specifically, attach to driving. The freedom and independence these women described in association with car driving were gender specific in nature and
overtly related to expanding social and physical limits as a woman. Personal meanings of this type
have been previously largely unknown and/or neglected, presumably because (older) womenÕs car
driving and driving culture has been seen as marginal and has not attracted research efforts. The
emancipatory qualities and features that car driving had in the present womenÕs descriptions
reflected the ambiguous nature of womenÕs driving; a combination of the expanded social and
physical latitude offered by the car and of the traditional image of the domestic woman.
Considering the marginalization mechanism this apparent contradiction is to us especially
interesting. That is, although the car signifies an emancipatory tool for women, and the emancipatory discourse is detectable from the womenÕs talk, the experiential meaning is always in a
dynamical relationship with the more appropriate, ‘‘sensible’’ meaning of a car use. The emancipatory meanings attached to a car by these women were in the narratives constructed as legitimate
by linguistically and narratively leaning on the practical explanations for driving. The entanglement of the experiential and practical meanings also indicates that the experiential meanings,
expressed by women, do not self-evidently exist but are in need of perpetual defence. In this
226
A. Siren, L. Hakamies-Blomqvist / Transportation Research Part F 8 (2005) 213–228
way, womenÕs experiences as drivers are not being embedded into our cultural conceptions about
driving, and the marginalization of and control upon womenÕs experiences as drivers is
maintained.
The present studyÕs data consisted of unstructured interviews and qualitative methods were
used for analysing the data. The data collected from 10 interviews were rich, and from the basis
of the content analysis, all the researchers agreed that the material had reached a saturation point,
thus indicating the number of interviews to be sufficient. The aim of the unstructured interviewing
was to gain material in narrative form, i.e., stories told by women themselves. Not all material had
a strictly narrative form (cf., Labow & Waletzky, 1967), but in all interviews, a life-course perspective was explicitly present because the interviews dealt with personal driving history. Thus, it was
possible to apply a narrative approach combined with a life course perspective in the analysis. In
addition, the unstructured nature of interviewing enabled interviewees to describe driving in their
own words, and to choose how to linguistically describe their personal experiences.
A limitation of the present study is the narrow age range of the interviewed subjects. As in all
research dealing with age and life course, it is important to consider possible cohort effects. The
women in the present study all belong in the oldest cohorts of women drivers, and may differ from
younger cohorts of women drivers regarding, e.g., what is considered as socially appropriate
behaviour for a woman.
Sweden is a country with a relatively lengthy history of explicit gender equality policies and legislations. The fact that the present study was carried out in Sweden thus gives an interesting setting for exploring women driversÕ marginalization and positions on an everyday life arena of
traffic. First, the fact that marginalization mechanisms were found even in this setting gives a reason to conjecture that they may be more overtly present and stronger in effect in societies and cultures with less explicit gender equality policies. Second, within this setting, it was possible to gain
access to the cultural embeddedness of the marginalization and the implicit naturalization of the
gender difference in driving and travel. While the explicit policies and conventions aim for gender
neutrality and/or equality, there are underlying, gendered practices that are embedded into everyday conventions. The marginalization mechanisms found in the present study were indeed implicit
and clearly embedded into the societyÕs social and cultural conceptions about gender and driving.
Nor did the women themselves describe the marginalization as explicit repression or discrimination. Rather, they referred to the social and cultural practices that define the positions of a woman
driver.
The present study represents a pioneering attempt to understand the marginalization mechanism and overall socio-cultural sphere surrounding older womenÕs car driving, and it sheds
light on an issue previously largely uncovered. Numerous previous studies have documented gender differences in driving and travel. However, simple lists of gender differences do not essentially
augment our understanding of womenÕs position in the transportation system. In order to achieve
this goal, gender sensitive transport research has to be positioned within a scientific discourse on
constructed gender, the gender system and the hidden power and control positions in our society
and everyday practices. According to the social constructionist view, reality is constructed
and shaped through peopleÕs experiences. If womenÕs experiences on a certain arena of everyday life are hidden, the reality and terms of that arena will be shaped by exclusively menÕs
experiences. This mechanism will further reproduce the womenÕs marginalized position as road
users.
A. Siren, L. Hakamies-Blomqvist / Transportation Research Part F 8 (2005) 213–228
227
Acknowledgments
We thank Anna Anund and Gunilla Sörensen for their contribution in data collection and compilation. Financial support from Trygg Hansa, the Academy of Finland (decision no. 70128), and
the Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems (VINNOVA) is gratefully acknowledged.
References
Alvlund, K., Lund, R., Holstein, B. E., & Due, P. (2004). Social relations as determinants of onset of disability in aging.
Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 38, 85–99.
Arber, S., & Cooper, H. (1999). Inequalities in health in later life: The new paradox? Social Science and Medicine, 48,
61–76.
Arber, S., & Ginn, J. (1991). Gender and later life. London: Sage.
Berger, M. (1986). Women drivers! The emerge of folklore and stereotypical opinions concerning feminine automotive
behavior. WomenÕs Studies International Forum, 9, 257–263.
Burkhardt, J., Berger, A., & McGavock, A. (1996). The mobility consequences of the reduction or cessation of driving
by older women. In Proceedings from the second national conference on womenÕs travel issues, Baltimore, October
1996. Washington DC: Federal Highway Administration.
Burkhardt, J. E., & McGavock, A. T. (1999). TomorrowÕs older drivers. Who? How many? What impacts?
Transportation Research Record, 1693, 62–69.
Cassell, S., Lawson, S., & Snelson, A. (1993). Women and cars. Emancipation, enrichment and efficiency. Hampshire:
AAA Group Public Policy.
Connel, R. W. (1987). Gender and power: Society, the person and sexual politics. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Denzin, N., & Lincoln, Y. (1994). Introduction: Entering the field of qualitative research. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln
(Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 1–22). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Eberhard, J. W. (1996). Safe mobility for senior citizens. IATSS Research, 20, 29–37.
Eisenhandler, S. (1990). The asphalt identikit: Old age and the driverÕs license. International Journal of Aging and
Human Development, 30, 1–14.
Farquhar, M. (1995). Elderly peopleÕs definitions of quality of life. Social Science and Medicine, 41, 1439–1446.
FHWA (2001). Distribution of licensed drivers––2001 by sex and percentage in each age group and relation to
population. Highway statistics. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration.
Guralnik, J. M., Alecxih, L., Branch, L. G., & Wiener, J. M. (2002). Medical and long-term care costs when older
persons become more dependent. American Journal of Public Health, 92, 1244–1245.
Hakamies-Blomqvist, L. (2003). Ageing Europe: The challenges and opportunities for transport safety. 5th European
transport safety lecture. Brussels, Belgium: European Transport Safety Council.
Hakamies-Blomqvist, L., Henriksson, P., Anund, A., & Sörensen, G. (in press). Baby-boomers as future older road users.
VTI rapport. Linköping, Sweden: VTI.
Hakamies-Blomqvist, L., & Siren, A. (2003). Deconstructing a gender difference: Driving cessation and personal driving
history of older women. Journal of Safety Research, 34, 383–388.
Hakamies-Blomqvist, L., & Wahlström, B. (1998). Why do older drivers give up driving? Accident Analysis and
Prevention, 30, 305–312.
Holstein, J. A., & Gubrium, J. F. (2000). The self we life by––Narrative identity in a postmodern world (pp. 187–190).
New York: Oxford University Press.
Hubak, M. (1993). Bilreklame og kjønn. Sociologi idag, 23, 75–102.
Jette, A. M., & Branch, L. G. (1992). A ten-year follow-up of driving patterns among community-dwelling elderly.
Human Factors, 34, 25–31.
Labow, W., & Waletzky, J. (1967). Narrative analysis: Oral versions of personal experience. In J. Helm (Ed.), Essays on
the verbal and visual arts. San Francisco, CA: American Ethnological Society.
Leed, E. J. (1991). The mind of the traveler. New York: Basic Books.
228
A. Siren, L. Hakamies-Blomqvist / Transportation Research Part F 8 (2005) 213–228
Leveille, S. G., Penninx, B. W. J. H., Melzer, D., Izmirlian, G., & Guralnik, J. M. (2000). Sex differences in the
prevalence of mobility disability in old age: The dynamics of incidence, recovery, and mortality. Journal of
Gerontology: Social Sciences, 55B, S41–S50.
Lewis, D. L., & Goldstein, L. (1983). The automobile and American culture. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of
Michigan Press.
Mack, R., Salmoni, A., Viverais-Dressler, G., Porter, E., & Garg, R. (1997). Perceived risks to independent living: The
views of older, community-dwelling adults. The Gerontologist, 37, 729–736.
Marottoli, R., Mendes de Leon, C., Glass, T., Williams, C., Cooney, L. J., Berkman, L., et al. (1997). Driving cessation
and increased depressive symptoms: Prospective evidence from the New Haven EPESE. Established Populations for
Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly. Journal of American Geriatric Society, 45, 202–206.
Meyers, A. M., Powell, L. E., Maki, B. E., Holliday, P. J., Brawley, L. R., & Sherk, W. (1996). Psychological indicators
of balance confidence relationship to actual and perceived abilities. Journals of Gerontology: Medical Science, 51A,
37–43.
Polk, M. (1998). Gendered mobility. A study of womenÕs and menÕs relations to automobility in Sweden. Humanekologiska
skrifter 17. Gothenburg, Sweden: University of Gothenburg.
Potter, J., & Wetherell, M. (1987). Discourse and social psychology. Beyond attitudes and behavior. London, UK: Sage.
Rich, A. (1976). Of woman born: Motherhood as experience and institution. New York: W.W. Norton.
Rosenbloom, S. (1993). WomenÕs travel patterns at various stages of their lives. In Cindi Katz & Janice Monk (Eds.),
Full circles. Geographies of women over the life course (pp. 208–242). Routledge: London.
Rosenbloom, S. (1995). Travel by women. Demographic Special Reports. 1990 NPTS Report series. Washington, DC:
US Department of Transportation.
Rosenbloom, S. (2000). Report by the chairperson. In Transport and ageing of the population. OECD Roundtable 112.
Paris, France: OECD.
Rothe, J. (1994). Becoming a driver and ex-driver. In J. Rothe (Ed.), Beyond the traffic safety (pp. 69–83). New
Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Sachs, W. (1992). For love of the automobile. Looking back into the history of our desires. Berkeley: University of
California Press.
Sandqvist, K. (1997). The appeal of automobiles––human desires and the proliferation of cars. KFB Rapport 1997:21.
Stockholm, Sweden: KFB.
Scharff, V. (1991). Taking the wheel: Women and the coming of the motor age. Albuquerque, NM: University of New
Mexico Press.
Sherman, S. R. (1997). Images of middle-aged and older women: Historical, cultural, and personal. In J. M. Coyle
(Ed.), Handbook on women and ageing (pp. 14–28). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Siren, A. (2002). Painoin tallan lautaan ja näytin pojille missä mennään––autoilu iäkkäiden naisten kertomuksissa (I
speeded off and showed the boys how driving is done––Car driving in older womenÕs stories). Naistutkimus—
Kvinnoforskning, 16, 30–42.
Siren, A., Hakamies-Blomqvist, L., & Lindeman, M. (2004). Driving cessation and health in older women. Journal of
Applied Gerontology, 23, 58–69.
Tinetti, M. E., & Powell, L. (1993). Fear of falling and low self-efficacy: A cause of dependence in elderly persons. The
Journals of Gerontology, 48 (Special Issue), 35–38.
Urry, J. (1999). Automobility, car culture, and wightless travel. Department of Sociology, Lancaster University.
Available from http://www.comp.lancaster.ac.uk/sociology/soc008ju.html.
Vakimo, S. (2001). Paljon kokeva, vähän näkyvä: Tutkimus vanhaa naista koskevista kulttuurisista käsityksistäja vanhan
naisen elämänkäytännöistä (Out of sight but full of life. A study of cultural conceptions of old women and their life
practices). Helsinki, Finland: Finnish Literature Society.
Wachs, M. (1987). Men, women, and wheels: The historical basis of sex differences in travel patterns. Transportation
Research Record, 1135, 10–16.
Woolf, V. (1929/1930). A room of oneÕs own (2nd improved ed.). Hogarth Press: London.