The influence of gender on young women’s everyday (im)mobilities in Inverness, Scotland

Abstract

Young women’s (im)mobilities are influenced by a web of factors at the individual, interpersonal and macro levels of analysis. These factors, including young women’s social identities, perceptions of themselves and their environment; parental rules; transportation systems; and systematic inequalities, influence how, at what times and where young women access the public realm. In this article, I argue gender is an often-hidden but significant force shaping young women’s (im)mobilities in the public realm at different levels of analysis. Drawing attention to how gender influences mobilities is a necessary first step to making the public realm inclusive and accessible for women of all ages. This research was undertaken as part of a PhD in Social Policy. Qualitative data were collected with 41 participants over 8 months using semi-structured interviews and a pilot series of participatory workshops. Participants included young women, their mothers, key adults in young women’s lives, and policy professionals. The findings reveal how gender suffuses the experiences, decisions, regulations, and policies informing young women’s mobilities, often with a limiting effect. However, the strength of gender as a force affecting young women’s mobilities, and the recognition of the role of gender in mediating young women’s travel varied among participants. The contextual and intersectional nature of young women’s mobilities accounts for this variation and begins to explain it. The research focused on the experiences of young women in Scotland, but the findings illuminate the persistent, and surprising ways that gender shapes young women’s (im)mobilities in different contexts around the world.