Healthy, safe and responsible: the modern female traveller

Abstract

One-half of all travellers are women; yet, there is a distinct lack of detailed travel health knowledge on topics of unique relevance to women. While there is medical advice relating to stages in the female lifecycle, it neglects women-specific practical aspects despite their ability to harm travellers’ health and cause inconvenience. This paper discusses comprehensively three major aspects of travel as they relate to women. First, it suggests the management of personal hygiene, bodily functions, menstruation and sexual behaviour, and alerts to the limited knowledge on travel mental health issues.Second, apart from travelling in a female body with its specific demands, being a woman requires special attention to safety and security. Within various travel contexts, women have many opportunities for minimising potential risks.Finally, guided by travel medicine’s acknowledgment of its role in the concept of responsible travel, this article goes beyond the usual general statements and broad advice and offers detailed and practical suggestions on how the female traveller can contribute to the overall goal of minimising any potential harm to fellow humans and the natural environment. Recognising the scarcity of women-specific travel information, pathways to better education, and a range of suggestions for urgent research facilitate the provision of high-quality travel health care tailored specifically to women’s needs.

Attributes, revisit intention, and Bicol's tourist destination sustainability: A structural equation modelling approach

“…This includes their decisions as to lifestyle and leisure which included travel planning. This claim was supported in the study of Bauer (2021) who asserts that the increase of female travelers started years back, and such is attributed to their desire to explore different places.…”

Do young women travellers really consider the risk of sexual harassment during night travel? Evening travel vs midnight travel

“…Young female travellers may not exhibit anxiety responses when faced with passive harassment if they do not perceive a strong risk of harm. Secondly, culture shock leads to increased risk perceptions (Bauer, 2021). Young women learn to consider their social interactions (Eger, 2021), so they know how to assess a harassment incident and do not perceive a close embrace upon greeting as sexual harassment.…”

“…Sexual harassment involves aggressive harassment such as verbal abuse and passive harassment such as unwanted attention (Otoo et al , 2019). Therefore, sexual harassment is widely argued to be context-bound, and victims’ culture takes an important role in their perception of sexual harassment (Bauer, 2021). For example, China’s patriarchal culture keeps Chinese women silent when it comes to responding to sexual harassment; however, the #MeeToo movement highlights allegations of sexual harassment, which deepens female travellers’ awareness of the risks of sexual harassment (Eger, 2021).…”

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