If you tend to hand over the car keys whenever you travel with your family then you are not alone. A recent survey shows women are far more likely to sit in the passenger seat when riding with male household members. According to sociologist, Pepper Schwartz, even the households that would label themselves as holding feminist values have men behind the wheel a lot more often than women.
A recent article from New York Times brings to light some statistics from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor regarding women and their habit of riding as passenger. ATUS reports that women spend 29 percent of their time riding in cars as passengers whereas men spend only about half that, 14 percent.
One theory of why men may drive more is that they tend to work longer hours outside of the house than women and are alone in the car more often. Families with higher incomes do not show as much of a gap with men driving more since each household member tends to own their own car. But this doesn’t explain why when men and women are together, it is usually the man driving. The 2001 National Transportation Survey reports men are three times more likely to drive than women when sharing a ride with household members.
Do women just not want to be bothered by the stress of driving and decide to take a break when traveling with a male partner? Or are women better navigators than men and take that role on when traveling with men? Or is it something else entirely?
What do you think?
Do you tend to hand over the keys in your household and if so why?
Absolutely, I hand over the keys to my husband because I will prefer not to take on the stress of driving long trips. I would rather drive shorter trips. And yes I do a better job at being the backs seat driver. I'm great at observing giving orders and navigating and he's pretty good at following my directions. So absolutely, I hand over the keys to my husband because he complains of my driving too slow.
opinion_bout_everythang::
on Jan 29, 2010
I drive all the time. My husband doesn't like to drive and tends to pout if I ask him to drive. This used to drive his parents crazy. They kept making rude comments until he set thiem straight.
katybear826::
on Feb 01, 2010
Huh. This is funny, cause when I think about it, it's definitely true. I think I always hand over the keys if we're going out as a family. Well, to be fair, we are almost always in his truck (which I can't drive). I think if we did take my car, I would probably drive. Weird...
big_black_cat::
on Feb 02, 2010
I let him drive because I have a 74 mile round trip commute five days a week. He only drives about 14 miles per day. He likes to drive and I really don't.
krys2000::
on Feb 04, 2010
I drive everywhere. I am just as capable and frankly, I think I drive better. I enjoy it. My husband's driving makes me nuts so I would rather drive than have to worry about his old lady driving habits.
mrsdeniseb::
on Feb 12, 2010
We share the driving. My husband will drive to town so I can get shopping lists done. Then I will drive home. It works out great for us.
shanndonia::
on Feb 16, 2010
If we take my car, I usually drive unless the weather is horrible or I don't feel well. If we take his car, he usually drives. On long trips we share the driving, but I have to admit that he drives more and I sleep more, lol.
805Therapy::
on Feb 16, 2010
So we can drive from the passenger seat :)
mainemama::
on Feb 16, 2010
I let my husband drive most of the time when we are going somewhere together. Like someone else posted, he thinks he is the best driver on earth, and makes comments about my driving, so I just let him do it. Plus, I don't mind just sitting back and enjoying the ride.
