{"id":20668,"date":"2019-03-06T18:05:08","date_gmt":"2019-03-06T17:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tourradar.com\/days-to-come\/?p=20668"},"modified":"2019-04-17T10:00:21","modified_gmt":"2019-04-17T09:00:21","slug":"what-solo-travel-looks-like-for-women-in-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tourradar.com\/days-to-come\/what-solo-travel-looks-like-for-women-in-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"What Solo Travel Looks Like for Women in 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

My first solo female trip was a spiritual experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After my startup died, the failure of the business was destroying me emotionally and I needed to get back on my feet, so I applied to a four-week dance intensive in an idyllic Italian town called Urbania in the Le Marche region. There was some jokey backlash from people about the fact that I was leaving my husband for a month. None of this backlash came from him, as he grew up in a family of strong South Asian women, all of whom proudly identify as feminists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the course of my time in Urbania, there were lots of prayers, especially when I tried to do a triple-pirouette on my tiptoes – I called on all the gods. And despite failing at them over and over again, I had faith in myself and kept fighting for it. As I got back on my feet (literally and mentally), the connection between female empowerment and travel fully manifested for me. There I was in this tiny little Italian village in the Le Marche region, away from my husband, family, friends, and the constraints of my daily life, trying to understand dance instructions in a different language, harnessing complete autonomy over my physical and mental boundaries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What’s the point of dancing five hours a day if you can’t eat all the gelato? | \u00a9 Sahar Aman<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When women travel, it impacts their lives and our world positively, shifting perspectives and tipping the scales further towards closing the gender gap. Fittingly, the theme for International Women\u2019s Day 2019 is #BalanceForBetter, advocating for gender balance across every aspect of our social lives, and that, of course, includes travelling and touring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The connection between #BalanceForBetter and travel <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The women\u2019s movement has come a long way from its first wave in the 19th century, and there is a lot to celebrate. Today we have far more agency over our lives and careers than before, but true equality is far off. If the #TimesUp and #MeToo campaigns over the past year have taught us anything, it\u2019s that we still have a long way to go. As the good fight for equality continues, one way for women to empower themselves all year long and further the #BalanceForBetter message is through travel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travel facilitates female empowerment because it allows women to struggle in a way that garners growth. A report published by Dr Elaine C.L. Yang and Dr Catheryn Khoo-Lattimore for Griffith University makes a case for this. They state that \u201ctravel provides a space that emancipates women from gendered expectations and associated responsibilities. In this space, women can journey inward to self-discovery as they journey out of their comfort zone and social surveillance from home.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their report, Yang and Khoo-Lattimore highlight that \u201cfemale travel has been growing exponentially over the last two decades and will continue to rise as women travel more boldly, liberally and independently. Searches on female travel and in particular, solo female travel have soared in the past five years. TripAdvisor estimates that 74% of women around the world have travelled or are planning to travel alone.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Female Solo Travel Search Interest 2004\u20142019 | Google Trends (2019)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

They also indicate that beyond relaxation and pleasure, women travel because of \u201ca profound need for empowerment and transformation. For an external state of equality and an internal state of harmony.\u201d
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How travel can make a positive impact on equality <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Women travelling has impacted equality positively. If the recent collaboration between National Geographic and Mattel to create a travel-themed line of Barbie dolls is anything to go by, telling stories about female exploration has never been more important. It\u2019s a way for us to journey further while nurturing equality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barbie\u2019s resume now includes careers as a Wildlife Photojournalist and Polar Marine Biologist, both of which belong to historically male-dominated fields. This means that from an age as young as 7, girls are growing up without having to accept limits based on outdated stereotypes or antiquated ideas of what women can achieve. Instead, they discover roles and stories that reach far beyond the \u201cdream house\u201d and into exciting careers and lifestyles that include exploration, science, conservation and technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mattel seems committed to making up for lost time | \u00a9 Fortune<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to Travel + Leisure<\/a>, Susan Goldberg, editor in chief of National Geographic magazine and editorial director of National Geographic Partners, explains, \u201cthrough our partnership with Barbie, we are excited to reach kids in a new way, using the power of play to inspire our next generation of explorers, scientists and photographers.\u201d The takeaway? Young girls will now see themselves in spaces that may previously have been dominated by males. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can travel become more accessible to women?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Yang and Khoo-Lattimore\u2019s report also sheds light on what is holding women back. Travel empowers women, but their research reveals an \u201cimbalance\u201d in women\u2019s access to travel and experience in destinations. \u201cSafety concerns, ranging from unsolicited attention, street harassment to sexual assault, consistently appear as the main constraint that impedes women from fully owning and experiencing what\u2019s supposed to be a transformative journey.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, Jada Yuan became The New York Times inaugural 52 Places Traveller. For one year, Yuan travelled somewhere different every seven days. Afterwards, Yuan published a moving article sharing some meaningful lessons from her year-long journey, and one of those was about safety for female travellers. <\/p>\n\n\n

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See Also: <\/em>7 Things We Can All Learn From Jada Yuan\u2019s Journey Around the World<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\r\n

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In the article<\/a>, she explains \u201cCaution as a solo female traveller is healthy; blind fear is not\u2026 I\u2019ve had to sacrifice areas of coverage I might otherwise enjoy, like nightlife, because I didn\u2019t feel safe going out alone\u2026 There\u2019s a literal extra cost to being a woman travelling on your own. In cities where safety seemed like it might be an issue, I took cabs and Ubers rather than cheaper public transport. Climbing up certain mountains or going around certain cities, I opted for a guide and often paid extra because most private tours have a two-person minimum.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Yang and Khoo-Lattimore, \u201cthe call for gender balance in travel and tours is getting more attention in the social media space with hashtags like #Viajosola (which means \u201cI travel alone\u201d), with more than 5000 women defending their right to travel safely, and #MeToo, which has encouraged more women to speak up about their experiences with gender-based violence in their lives, including violence that occurred while travelling.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To some extent, tours have emerged as a solution to aspects of this, providing female travellers with security, and emotional and social safety. It\u2019s not all talk either. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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