Power and empowerment: How Asian solo female travellers perceive and negotiate risks

Abstract

In response to the emergence of the solo female travel market in Asia, this study explores how Asian women perceive and negotiate the risks of travelling alone and the meanings of these processes. The lived experiences of 35 solo female travellers from 10 East and Southeast Asian countries were analysed using constructivist grounded theory.The findings reveal that Asian solo female travellers were concerned about gendered (e.g. sexual assault and street harassment) and racialised (e.g. discrimination and social disapproval) risks, which imply the unequal power relations underpinning the gendered and racialised tourism space. The findings also reveal evidence where gender intersects with race in amplifying and constructing Asian women's perception of risk. The study demonstrates how Asian solo female travellers gained empowerment and experienced self-transformations through negotiating the risks and further reveals how these individual transformations may extend to social transformations at a micro level in an Asian context.

The travel motivations and experiences of female Vietnamese solo travellers

“…While Wilson and Little's (2013) argument is mainly based on attributing women's fear of violence and sexual attack to perception, this is justified as women continue to be the primary victims of rape and sexual attack around the world (World Health Organization, 2014). The perception of fear still prevails among women travellers as their use of public space continues to remain regulated by a patriarchal system dictating what is 'appropriate' female travel behaviour (Brown and Osman, 2017;Jordan and Gibson, 2005;Wilson and Little, 2005;Yang et al, 2018b).…”

“…Research has paid more attention to the constraints faced by western women than Asian female solo travellers. Exceptions include research conducted in recent years by scholars, who studied the influence of Asian cultural norms on female travel behaviour (Seow and Brown, 2018;Teo and Leong, 2006;Yang, 2016;Yang et al, 2018aYang et al, , 2018bZhang and Hitchcock, 2017). Asian women have been cast as vulnerable and dependent in comparison with western women; thus, they seem to participate less in independent travel (Yang, 2016).…”

“…The literature on solo female Asian travellers acknowledges risk, whether as a negative element of a trip or as anomalous behaviour (Yang et al, 2018a). In their study based on 35 in-depth interviews with solo female travellers from East and Southeast Asia, Yang et al (2018b) explored risk perception and mitigating strategies among Asian female solo travellers. They found that in addition to violence, in particular of a sexual nature, discrimination and unfriendliness were two elements of risk faced by participants.…”

Taking a walk: The female tourist experience

“…The idea of resistance is found in other studies of female travel. For example, Seow and Brown (2018) and Yang et al (2016) observed that for female Asian tourists, the very act of travelling solo was an expression of their resistance to cultural expectations of women.…”

Are hotel guests bothered by unlucky floor or room assignments?

“…Vaidyanathan et al (2018) also suggest that women may engage in superstitious behavior for "protective" reasons, with little actual belief in the effectiveness of superstitions. Women and especially solo traveling women generally feel more vulnerable and at risk when in unfamiliar locations (Yang et al, 2018). Even they may not openly endorse the superstitious beliefs, women may choose to act superstitiously to maintain their peace of mind.…”