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.