A growing trend in the travel industry is women-only tours.  Travel brochures and websites which advertise trips for women-only groups have become more frequent (Henderson, Bialeschki, Shaw, & Freysinger 1996: 187).  The first of these companies arose in the early 1980's, and have become big business.  A casual "Googling" of women's travel tours produces over 1000 such companies, many with names such as Adventurous Wench; Gutsy Women Travel; Women Traveling Together; Journeywomen; Wildwomen Expeditions, Sights and Soul,  Tea Garden Travel, or Sacred Journeys for Women.  Established tour companies such as Country Walkers and Transitions Abroad have also added specialized "Women's Adventures" to appeal to this niche market.  One traditional tour company has seen the women-only travel business increase by 30% since 2009 (Siber 2013).

    The founder of "AdventureWomen", Susan Eckert, started the company over 30 years ago to offer travel adventures and people with whom women could share them.  She wanted to establish a space for women to travel without the complications that appear in mixed travel groups such as gendered behavior within couples, romantic or sexual tension among singles, or gender-based stereotypes.  She currently markets more than 25 different trips, attracting women of different ages and skill levels, from trekking in Nepal to whale watching in Baja California, Mexico   (http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/633  retrieved 2/25/06 ).

    First person accounts reveal that women travel in women-only groups for a multitude of reasons—some for the group dynamics of the women-only environment, others for the safety that group travel can offer (Aitchison & Reeves 1998). 

    Research Question:  How can the growth in women's tours be framed in the context of leisure research, specifically feminist leisure theory?  How can these be viewed as acts of social agency in the realm of control over one's leisure?  Specifically, how do women negotiate the decisions to travel outside gender norms? To what extent do they face constraints in planning and executing independent travel?   The purpose of this paper is to examine the process of control of women's leisure within the context of travel in women-only organizations. 

Literature Review:   Gender, Leisure, and Tourism

    A review of the literature on leisure, gender, and tourism from a feminist perspective reveals several theoretical concepts that guide this analysis. Many studies make reference to the contradictory impact of leisure and tourism as situations of both constraint and empowerment.  Leisure and tourism are social experiences with expectations shaped by the wider social structure and culture. While women's participation has historically been limited and constrained in many areas of both leisure and tourism, these activities can offer women real opportunities for resistance to the dominant leisure paradigm and opportunities for empowerment in both leisure and in general.  The literature focuses on three areas—gender and leisure constraints; gender and tourism constraints; and leisure, tourism and resistance and empowerment and the implications for women's power.

    Research on gender and leisure has been consistent in pointing to gender inequities in both time and quality of leisure for men and women.  Bittman and Wacjman (2000) studied gender differences in leisure time in reference to both quality and quantity of leisure.  Using time surveys, they found little overall differences in the total work and leisure time of men and women, but did find difference in the quality of the leisure.  They found that "men have more hours of pure leisure uncontaminated by combination with unpaid work.  In addition, men's leisure is less likely to be interrupted than women's" (p. 185).   In their study of men's and women's time diaries, Mattingly and Sayer (2006) found that even when men and women have the same amount of free time, women tend to feel more rushed. Women's leisure is more fragmented, less relaxing, and thus of less quality.
 
    Women's choices about their leisure time occur in the context of their families, work lives and the larger society (Deem 1999).  As a result, "…their choices are steeped in cultural ideologies about what types of behaviors are appropriate for men and women in society" (Henderson, Hodges, &. Kivel, 2002: 259).  Other factors such as "privilege, power, and discrimination" also intersect with gender in affecting choice and access to leisure activities (Henderson et al.2002).   Some have suggested that women are more prone to organize their leisure around family duties than men (Thompson 1995, cited in Henderson et al. 2002).  Green (1998a) found that women's leisure occurs in more "snatched spaces" a result of their multiple roles.  Small (2005) suggests that the role of mother especially constrains women's leisure due to the greedy demands of the motherhood role.

    Constraints of women's leisure are not only temporal.  In their work on feminist perspectives on leisure, Henderson, Bialeschki, Shaw, and  Freysinger (1996) listed three types of constraints to women's leisure.  The first, "intrapersonal," refers to the constraints women appear to place on themselves in their choice of activities.  These factors are affected by gender socialization, family interaction, body image, and traditional gender roles (p. 196-8).  The second constraint, "interpersonal" deals with the limitation on the quality and participation in leisure as a consequence of interaction with others, for example, leisure participation may be affected by family duties, male-female gender power dynamics, or the wish to organize one's leisure to please others (p. 201).  Small's (2005) insight that mothers on holiday with children and family are obligated and limited in their activities by their "ethic of care" would illustrate this constraint.  The author had the opportunity to observe this "ethic of care" while on holiday at a beach resort.  A common sight at the pool was mothers and grandmothers dealing with cranky children while dads and grandfathers snoozed in their lounge chairs.  Structural constraints, the third type, refer to the practical and logistical factors that can limit leisure activities—issues with economic resources, transport, safety concerns, or lack of specific programs (pp. 203-5).

    Tourism is constrained by many of the same forces that limit women's full participation in other forms of leisure.  Tourist experiences are gendered in their construction, consumption, and presentation (Kinnaird & Hall 1994).  Women travelers experience constraints based on their social and gendered location as females  (Wilson and Little 2005).  Previous research has suggested that women's leisure is constrained by patriarchal notions of femininity and the control of tourist spaces by men as gatekeepers whose "policies informally function to exclude women" (Jordan 1998:73).  Tourism organizations have been male-dominated at upper levels (Jordan 1998: 74) unlike women's travel companies which tend to be women-owned.  "When examined in relation to feminist analyses of women's leisure, the findings…suggest that the constraints for mid-life women seeking to holiday alone mirror those identified in their everyday leisure.  The male-dominated tourism industry acts as a gatekeeper to women's holiday participation" (Jordan 1998: 81). 

    Women's participation in tourism is not evenly constrained throughout the lifecycle.  Previous research has suggested that there are different tourist motivations by gender and at different stages of life.  "…(T)ourist roles may…serve as vehicles through which vacationers seek to satisfy unsatisfied [desires]…and growth needs"  (Gibson & Yiannakis 2002: 359).  That is, vacations give people what home life fails to provide.  For example, at certain life stages where there is search for meaning and answers, people --particularly women-- may select intellectually stimulating vacations.   Another study from the U.S. suggested that travel preferences are different for men and women—"men traditionally seek action and adventure…while women are more likely to be searching for cultural and educational experiences with security being a priority"  (Collins & Tisdell 2002: 135).  Previous research found that gender and life cycle stages matter in tourist choices:  university educated women have different choices than others (Pennington-Gray & Kerstetter  2001) and gender influences the choice of active sport vacations and thrill-seeking vacations (Gibson 1996, 1998).  Aitchison and Reeves (1998) examined tourism and leisure focusing on gender inequity at various stages of the life cycle.  They concluded that tourist spaces are gendered and a woman's access to leisure through tourism is limited by her inferior position within the larger patriarchal society.
   
    Gendered spaces in tourism appear in other contexts as well.  Pritchard and Morgan (2000) studied the production and consumption of tourist images and experiences by analyzing tourist brochures.   They found that destinations in the brochures could be divided into male and female landscapes based on the nature of the images.  Female landscapes focused on the exotic, sensual features of a destination, portraying nature and beauty.  Male landscapes were illustrated by images of adventure and historical male figures.  Pritchard and Morgan concluded that destinations are gendered in their marketing appeal to men and women in a way that reinforces and "reaffirms gender and international power relations " (p. 900 ).   Tourism as a leisure activity is a reflection of the gendered power relations within both the host and the guest societies.   [For a fuller discussion of tourism's impact on gender in host societies see Enloe (1989) and Levy and Lerch (1991).]

    Travel choices are not gender neutral, and although marketing research shows that the majority of family travel decisions are made by women (http://www.gutsytraveler.com/mbbStatistics.html retrieved Feb 25, 2006), their choices for travel and tourist activities remain constrained by social conventions and cultural definitions of acceptable behaviors.

    Studies have suggested that tourism as a form of leisure has the potential to offer women an opportunity to assert control through "resistance from constraining discourses" (Small 2005: 140).   Wearing and Wearing's work (1996: 240) elaborates on how tourism can expand the traditional cultural limitations of women's experience through social interaction with host societies and expanding the boundaries of culturally defined activities. In their later work they examine the notion of self and identity and assert that:

"tourism serves to provide a free area, a mental and physical escape from the immediacy of the multiplicity of impinging pressures in technological society and, as such, holiday experiences provide a scope for the nurturance and cultivation of human identity" (Wearing & Wearing 2001:150). 

Travel is a choice, and one can select one's companions.  Small (2005: 140) emphasizes that when travel and tourism is a "freely chosen and self-determined activity…it implies agency and the exercise of power."   Through leisure, and especially the variety that rejects traditional gendered discourses, women have the option to resist constraints and act as agents in their own empowerment.  In their study of solo women travelers, Jordan and Gibson (2005) found that there were many factor that women cited in their enjoyment of solo travel—"feelings of freedom, spontaneity, pride, and strength" (p.204) and empowerment. How do women's tours mediate gendered leisure and tourism constraints, and what is their potential for women asserting control over their own leisure?

Methods

    What are the lived experiences and reflections of women who had been involved with women-only tours?   To address this question, I conducted in-depth, open-ended interviews with nine women in two different tourism situations.  Four of the respondents were associated with one North Carolina-based company, "WomenRetreats", which had a focus of a specific learning activity on each trip.  The respondents had different roles in the activity--one woman was the owner and creative director of the company (Patty); two women were tour leaders (Marla and Liz); one was a client (Barbara).  [All names of participants are fictitious, as is the name of the company.]  Patty was not only the owner, but the yoga instructor and all-around logistics organizer and problem-solver on the trips; Liz was a trail guide who worked in hiking and dog-sledding trips; Marla was a well-known local artist who taught painting on the trips.  Barbara participated in four different trips as a client—two golfing, one creative writing, and the Alaska dog-sled trip.  I gained access to the respondents based on an acquaintance with one of the instructors, who led me to the others.  All were volunteers and were eager to share their thoughts and experiences.  In addition, I was a participant observer in a women's adventure holiday trip to a Dude Ranch in the Western US.   The remaining five respondents [Anna, Carol, Kate, Julia, and Rachel] were members of this group.

    The interviews were all semi-structured in that I approached the interviews with some basic questions and allowed the women to discuss their experiences in their own voices.  The interviews were conducted in public places, usually cafes or restaurants in a small Southern U.S. city or on-site at the Dude Ranch.  Each interview was recorded on tape and lasted between 90 minutes and 2 hours. The participant observation lasted the entire week of the Dude Ranch trip as I lived with the participants and took part in all the group activities.  After one hike at 10,000 feet, I held an informal "focus group" at the top of the mountain where Anna, Carol, Kate, Julia, and Rachel shared their thoughts and reflections of the experience.  This was recorded and later transcribed.  Using grounded theory, I analyzed the interviews for recurrent themes and issues.

Findings

    The basic ideology of the women-only tour company "WomenRetreats" was to offer "artistic, athletic, cultural getaways for women 30 or better."  The mission statement reads:  "We make it easy for women to take time out for themselves and provide opportunities for them to pursue new and exciting, empowering possibilities while taking care of their inner selves."  All trips lasted from 4 to 10 days, and involved travel to special locations to pursue creative, active or educational group activities.  Along with the focus activity such as photography or hiking, the retreats involved gourmet meals and snacks, daily yoga, massages, residence in high-end inns, and the luxury of all details taken care of by the staff.

    In talking with the women involved in WomenRetreats and the Dude Ranch, issues of the conflict between women's leisure and caregiving were often mentioned.  All participants realized the constraints of access to leisure for women based on their multiple roles.  As Patty, the founder of WomenRetreats, describes when asked why she started the company….

"I realized because I'm typical there would have to a gazillion other women just like this and wouldn't it be fun to do this with other women—it could be a business.  I love women I love being around them—the notion of giving to them.  Women on vacation are never really off—taking care of everyone. Wouldn't it be great to go on vacation and have somebody else take care of all of the details?  I would tell the women the biggest decision they'd have to make is whether to have a second cup of coffee in the morning.  …...I never went on a trip like that.  This business was birthed from taking care of people for 20 years and now I see how nice it is to be taken care of."

   Not just time, but feeling entitled to leisure was an issue. These women mentioned that the necessity of caring for others—children, spouse, elderly parents—as well as their work obligations made it difficult to justify their time away.  Some women had the concern that the very act of leaving the family would be viewed as a potential act of betrayal.   They had to deal with their own guilt in taking time and resources for themselves.  Occasionally women had to ask for permission from spouses and Patty says, "the ones who had to ask permission didn't get it."   They often expressed hesitation about desiring a trip away from their partners.   For some, leaving their daily obligations took cleverness to get the support of husbands and partners:

Patty:  "There were other women who'd say, they hemmed and hawed, and at the dinner table with their husband and kids they say 'I'm kinda thinking of going on this retreat, trip for women' and they'd all say great wow where are you going, we're so happy for you and women would learn they had supportive families they didn't know because they'd been doing all the nurturing and supporting."

    For many women, the obstacles were financial –these were expensive trips.  It meant saving on their own for a holiday to please themselves.  Or it meant having to arrange their lives so they could be gone from the family.  Some expressed guilt that they were leisure resources that could have been used for family travel.  Kate, a Dude Ranch participant, mentioned that she often travels for work, but this is different.  She feels like she could occasionally travel with women, but "I feel a little guilty, and I wouldn't put this above travel with my family.  I don't feel like I could do this again in two months without first having a family trip."

Even on a women's trip, they had to fulfill their obligations at home.

Liz: "This was huge for them—a holiday they chose not to spend with their families.  ….For most it's been a sacrifice of time and money to do it…..  for some people it's a real challenge and a sacrifice—not just financial.  Some women just to arrange childcare—they can't count on their husbands.  My experience is that there are a lot of obstacles to overcome for women to do these trips, not just financial."

    Some women felt justified that they could take their own holidays as "payback" for their husband's leisure.   Julia joked that since her husband goes off "with the boys" on car racing weekends, she feels like she can use that as leverage when she wants time for herself.    Anna, a participant in the Dude Ranch group, elaborated on the various permissions she felt she needed before she could commit to a week away:   

    I had to check it out with everybody, had to get my husband to change his schedule….I had to make sure everybody else was OK, even months before, so there was a lot of preparation and permission getting…from my husband and kids and even my 88 year old mother—I had to reassure her.. 

    Kate agreed that it takes a lot of preparation to get away—organizing everyone's schedule, leaving notes, getting food in.    Rachel mentioned that she worried that her husband wasn't eating well while she is away.  With all the concern and preparation, though, it seemed to be worth it: 

Patty: "One woman, it was the first time in 30 years that she'd been away without her husband.  And she reveled in it…it was so exciting for her."

Barbara: "The trips were pretty goal-oriented, that was the focal point.  For a lot of the women it was life-changing, it was the first time they stepped outside the family shadow and did something on their own, and say screw it, you guys, you'll just be OK this week, I'm not available.  And for them it was very liberating.  One woman was crying, talking about what it meant to her to do something on her own."

    Several of the respondents were mindful of the empowering aspects of the trips and how these fit into a feminist framework.   This is reflective of Wearing's suggestion that travel could offer women an opportunity to "resignify" their subjectivities so they are no longer inferiorized (Wearing 1998, cited in Jordan and Gibson 2005: 205).   There was an awareness of women's stepping outside of their normal comfort zones to attend the tours.  While not specifically billed as an adventure trip, the activities were often completely new and exciting to the participants—but with very low actual risk as the details were all covered by the organizers and guides.  However, Patty adds, that for many of the clients it was  "the most adventurous thing they had ever done." 

    During the trips, some women had to take charge of tasks they had always turned over to men.  For example, on the hiking trail trip, participants set up their own tents.   One woman commented: "On backpacking trips with my husband, I let him put up the tent—but when there's nobody around with a penis, the women just do everything."  Traveling with only women, women accept greater challenges, court greater responsibility, acquire new skills, gain confidence and a heightened sense of worth.

    When asked if there was a feminist philosophy in play among the participants, Patty replied, "there was the element of women's pride in their accomplishments, but not male-bashing."  The women were aware that they were being empowered, but also pampered. 

    Women's leisure is often characterized by increased levels of social support rather than competition.  Earlier studies found the importance of older women's leisure with other women in their life satisfaction., self-esteem and self-image. (O'Neill 1993).  Further, sharing new experiences and challenges in the context of a women's group empowered the participants to act "out of gender."   "(I)t is often within women-only contexts that specific opportunities for resistance to gender stereotyped roles and images occur" (Green 1998b: 176).  The women of WomenRetreats and at the Dude Ranch were aware of the unique ability of women's trips to create a social group of women to act as a support system for the participants.  Liz, the hiking guide, expressed it like this:

"Part of it for me was wanting to create a community….women form a different kind of community when they are together than men and women.  I've been on some of these trips with my husband in groups and I find that men tend to be more competitive …I wanted to be with women in a non-competitive experience.   If women could be separate from their significant other, my experience is that they have a different sense of who they are and a greater freedom to express a part of themselves that they don't always when they are in company with men…I think sometimes women are unable to express all parts of themselves when they are with men. …  Somehow when you're with other women…you can take a risk that you might not normally…  If you're with your spouse you may not take the risk."   

    Green's work on women's friendships as a factor in leisure emphasizes the effect of women-only groups as "liberating in terms of gendered identity construction"  and offer opportunities for "self empowerment and autonomy" (1998b: 176).  Women on these ventures were thought to be more supportive and less competitive, especially in trying new activities, engaging in a less threatening environment, especially when compared to previous experiences with mixed-gender groups.  Carol, a participant from the Dude Ranch trip believed that if spouses were on the trip,

… the dominant activities would have always been the physical male activities and it would have been competitive.  [As all women] we had this idea of inclusion, of everybody doing everything.

Anna felt freer to participate in a new activity—fly fishing—on the Dude Ranch given the support of the community of women:

    Because everybody else was a novice, I felt very comfortable being a complete klutz and I surprised myself and really enjoyed it.  I'm not sure I would have done it with people who were really proficient at it.  There was a lot of permission in the group. There was a lot of encouragement from these women and a lack of ego in these women. 

Kate elaborated:

    "I felt supported in the fly- fishing and would have stayed on with the women doing it, but if my husband were here, I would have felt pressure to keep up with him.   I might have quit earlier."

    "Women-only groups can provide a different experience because women can be themselves and are relatively free of role expectations" (Henderson et al.1996:  187). And, these trips offer freedom from the emotional work in a marriage.  Rachel, a Dude Ranch guest opined, "No one in the group is obligated to make you happy, whereas you may feel that with a spouse,  there's the obligation to read his mind "  and special concern for his happiness as well as your own. 
 
    In fact, I observed some not-so-subtle social control with a woman who maintained too frequent contact with her home and family.  When one of the Dude Ranch participants called home and spoke to her teenage daughter for the third time, the other women expressed disapproval.  "She can live for a few days without you," they teased.  Most of the women avoided contact with home and husbands, even to the point of claiming lack of cell phone service (not entirely untrue, in this case). 

    The cocoon of support on some of the WomenRetreats tours allowed women to act completely outside of conventional expectations.   Liz commented on how they share secrets and stories within the groups:

"I certainly know that when women travel together they share stories that they might not share in other circumstances.  I know more about a lot of women than I know most people in their communities know.  Because there's a freedom that comes from being together.  Often when you're in circumstances that are outside of your norm and you get comfortable you do talk about things that are on your mind and may act in ways you wouldn't normally."

    Apparently, out-of- gender role behaviors can go far beyond talking and sharing stories. Green suggests that women-only leisure allows women the chance to "'let their hair down' and 'behave badly', i.e., out of the limits of "normal, acceptable, womanly behavior" (1998b: 181).  Women in this safe and supportive environment on WomenRetreats would occasionally act in quite bawdy and risky behavior—more in the style of college-aged "girls gone wild" than the socially expected stereotypical behavior of proper middle aged "ladies".

Patty:  "The trip began on Sunday, and I want to say it was Tuesday when one of the women stripped off her clothes and ran naked on the golf course and kissed a golfer….that night they're taking off their shirts in the dining room and howling because they have boobs that are hanging down to their knees and they're laying them on the table.  Laughing about what's happened to our bodies and really enjoying it.    They got it out of their system and bonded."

    A key feature of each of the trips was self-development—learning a new skill, testing one's limits, or renewing a commitment to an activity.  Coleman and Iso-Ahola (1993) suggested that this is a key vehicle through which leisure can contribute to individual well-being.  Marla, the painting instructor, noted how that the technical instruction was only part of the learning process.  She recognized how important her encouragement was to the women who were tentative about trying new things.  She was convinced that her job was

"…much more psychotherapy than teaching art.  Just people –you have to get them over mental blocks. ' I can't do this—I can't draw a straight line with a ruler'—Well,  just have fun, let's just experiment….don't judge yourself.  Everybody expected to leave with frameable art even though they had no confidence and were so hard on themselves."

    Marla mentioned how clients would look toward the instructors as their "new best friends."  She says:

"The trip is about women rekindling some interest—something they denied because they spent their lives taking care of everyone but themselves.  A chance of having a few days of being pampered and being in a gorgeous place, good food, tons of wine, some way too much and then we really had to get into psychotherapy when they start telling you all about their husbands, sex life and anorexic daughters.  There was a whole lot of talking, intense talking, as if you were going to be best friends forever." 

Empowerment and Control: Changing Lives

     Some women chose to attend a women's tour because of a desire to recognize a new stage in their lives, a big birthday, the death of a close family member, or a recovery from an illness.  To act in a purposeful manner enriched their self-concept with "sense of self-determination" (Coleman and Iso-Ahola 1993:119).  By participating in the trip they were asserting control over some life events and the ability to initiate action and agency.  This is also what is called "rite of passage tourism" (Graburn 2001).  A vacation from one's everyday life may be used to signify a movement between stages of life or a major life transition.    Marla stated that the individual personal reasons for joining the group often emerged very early in the group interaction:

" [Women chose this trip for] being with all women, for an emphasis on being taken care of, taking time for themselves; giving yourself this gift.  There were several people who had been really, really sick, who were going through some horrendous cancers, and didn't have good prognoses.  There were always lots of tears.  Even at the introductions, there were always people who cried, saying why they came and they've never done anything like this." 

    Marla identified experiences during the trips that enriched the women and changed lives:

"We had a few wonderful breakthroughs, like people having massages who hadn't been touched in years, like the 400 pound woman and a handicapped woman.  They said it changed their lives—they'd forgotten how wonderful it was –it made them happier people."

    Many women used the experience as a catalyst to make positive changes in their lives.  They promised to eat better, relax more with yoga, and continue to develop the skills they practiced on the retreat.  Patty looked back at one of her older clients:

"That was Gladys. She came in a wheelchair.  She was 78.  She asked for orange juice and I thought she was a non-drinker.  It turns out it was to go with her vodka!  She was at the island painting trip.  She decided to get a golf cart when she got home to go all over the place to paint and not be stuck indoors anymore."

    The measure of success for a temporary and artificially created situation like these leisure trips would be the extent that the clients would incorporate their new skills and self-determination into their lives at home.  The tour-guide Liz was convinced that this was likely:

"Quite often the women come for the challenge and the adventure and do something completely out of the norm and some want to do it they want to have some experience doing something they love so that they can continue it—like a jump start to keep doing. …Take home the actual skill or more intangible things like taking care of themselves hanging out with women more, honoring themselves... they have the sense that this has been a wonderful thing—how  can I have more of this when I'm at home."

    If vacations give people what home life fails to provide, these trips offered a "liminal" experience (Graburn 2001) and quite a change from the women's everyday activities .  As opportunities to step out of the normal patterns of caregiving and daily routines, these trips as women's trips, offered a form and style of leisure that was experienced  by participants—both clients and staff-- as life-affirming.  Patty sums up her impression of the trips as uniquely women's' leisure experiences:

"They are really important.  There's a piece of me that can say it's a bunch of spoiled women getting to have a good time—don't they already have good enough lives, but I think that every one of them left feeling better about themselves, feeling more confident….  When they all left they left with a feeling that they could do more than they thought they could.  Many of them made changes in their lives, from tiny, tiny little changes to big leaps….Women have always created ways to be together.  We are separated in our homes and the workplace and we find it hard to embrace each other in a safe place.  So I created the company.   Many of the art participants said, when I get home I'm cleaning up the spare room and gonna make a studio—I'm gonna make a space for myself.  Just the recognition that it's OK to take time for themselves and they got the feedback and support from their families."

Discussion and Conclusions--Women's Agency and Women-only Tours

    Within the context of feminist ideology, women's tours are a contradiction.  Just as "one size doesn't fit all" in women's leisure in general (Henderson 1996), women's trips can be challenging traditional gender arrangements or reinforce traditional gender.  On one hand, they appear to empower women and allow women the venue in which to take more control over their lives.  If undertaken with a sense of independence, women's leisure can be viewed as source of power and resistance—women can be "active agents in constructing their lives "(Green 1998a:  117).  The multiple obligations of work, home, and family highlight women's desire for a release from these burdens on holiday. Women's tours offer a respite from the daily routine, and by excluding husbands and children, women can take a respite from caregiving and achieve the relaxation and role-release not possible on a family holiday.  A trip away with a group of strangers also allows one to leave one's everyday identity at home, and take on a new persona. 

    When you travel with a group, your new friends have no preconceived notions about you. You do not carry the same "baggage" as you might if you were traveling with people whom you have known for a long time. You have the freedom to loosen up, try on a new persona, and be open to both a new destination and new people. (Whitman,
http://www.transitionsabroad.com/listings/travel/women/articles/women-group-travel.shtml  retrieved April 2, 2011)

    As such, women's tourism can be viewed in this context as "resistance" where women participate in activities and occupy touristic spaces that have been traditionally contested (Jordan and Gibson 2005).  In addition, leisure-travel can provide a context for agency and control over their own identity production.  As described by the participants in "WomenRetreats," traveling with an all-women group allowed these women to develop new skills, conquer fears, connect with others, engage in intimate conversation, and share experiences on a deep level.  Free from the expectation of romantic involvement, gendered role obligations in couples, or competition between participants, many women experience women-only travel as empowering and life-affirming (Jordan and Gibson 2005).  The fact that many women made drastic efforts to take this new-found power home with them is telling.  These were more than holidays, they were life-changing events which added to their well-being as whole persons.  Marla, the art instructor, reinforced this notion with her comment on how women benefit from their experience:

"…  To be taken care of, to see a new beautiful place; to develop this art interest, to increase their confidence, and hopefully go on with it for the rest of their lives."

    However, while many women's trips offer women the opportunity to step outside the restrictions of the gender–role box, other all-women tour groups could act to reinforce traditional gender. By focusing on stereotypical women's activities such as shopping or cooking, some trips are actually "doing gender" by involving women in traditional feminine activities.  The constraint identified in feminist studies of leisure remains an issue in women's tours if they serve only to channel women into traditionally stereotypical areas of interest and activity, and regurgitate essentialist gender differences.   From one tour-group website:

"Men and women travel very differently….While men tend to be very goal-oriented and like to accomplish as much as possible on their vacation, women enjoy the more relaxed pace and combining seeing sights with immersing themselves in various aspects of the culture: shopping the local markets, speaking with local children and paying attention to the color of the local stone and the local flowers."

"So when you go by yourself or when you go with a women-only tour, you get to decide if you want to walk out of the science museum or have chocolate for lunch or try on hair accessories for two hours without explaining to anyone."

"Men should not be threatened by this," she adds, "because they've been going off with their friends to hunt and to fish for centuries."
(http://www.gonomad.com/womens/0701/women-only.html  retrieved 3/15/13)

    This quote is telling in that the dominant assumption reflects gender-stereotypical different travel interests.  It also assumed that women who travel with men partners or families have little control over their own leisure experiences.  Indeed, Deem states that the typical British "self-catering" holiday is a vacation for everyone but the wife/mother who is expected to maintain all her feminine role obligations in a holiday cottage with fewer resources than she would have at home (1986). 

    Additionally, mainstream travel companies have recognized women-only tours as a potentially lucrative niche market, and are pitching trips to women in an aggressive way.  For example, travel agents are encouraged to use a "Darwinian market strategy" using gender stereotypes.  They are advised that  in order to appeal to women, use their tendency to like storytelling, form  relationships, and recognize milestone events such as a big birthday.  One traditional travel corporation, Maupintour, has purchased Gutsy Women Travel, employing women to head that branch of the company.  Their marketing is "designed to appeal to the multi-tasking nature of women" and offer them and opportunity to "recharge their energies in the company of other like-minded women in fascinating destinations." (http://gutsywomentravel.com/2013/about/gwt, retrieved 3/29/13).   Whereas initially women tour companies were women-owned and run, they now appear to be increasing falling into the portfolios of corporate markets.

    While this study was not intended to include a comprehensive content analysis of tourism marketing literature, I did find that travel brochures, websites, and advertisements specifically marketing women's trips were a rich source of material.  These materials used the images of independence, skill-development, relaxation, and freedom from daily obligations in their marketing.  Women are encouraged to "do something for themselves" and choose to celebrate in the company of other women.  The promise of the escape from the constraints of daily role obligations used by the advertising materials in print and on the internet suggests that these companies are appealing to women's desire for release from their caregiving roles to spend time on themselves.  The tour company websites are sprinkled with quotations designed to inspire women to take life in their hands and travel.  (Some examples--"Travel for women is a gift to give yourself"; [Serendipity traveler website] ; they invite "…women wanderers to share the world in a fun, supportive group." Women's Adventures offer women of all ages "time out" for themselves and the opportunity to experience the world on trips designed exclusively for women (Country Walkers website).  The tours in various companies range from hiking the Appalachian Trail, biking in New Zealand, creative writing on an island off the coast of Georgia, cooking in Italy, crossing the Moroccan desert on camelback or shopping in Paris.  Most tours are sensitive to nature and the environment, a variety of skill-levels, friendships and relationships initiated on the trips, and the perceived need of women to want to experience travel in a group setting and form a community. 

    From the analysis of my data,  there is evidence that women's tours enable women to experience leisure in new ways while encouraging them to share and form community with other women—all the while allowing them the freedom to reject traditional roles and constraints.  For our respondents, women-only tours allow collective resistance to gendered roles and expectations where women are able to challenge "acceptable womanly behavior" (Green 1998a: 120).  In fact, this is the theme on which most are sold to the public.  However, it is only women with a substantial level of social and economic resources that currently can take advantage of these women's tours.  Although some companies claim to cater to all budgets, most attract women with the ability to spend thousands of dollars on a short holiday—clearly limiting the activity to women of some privilege.  Unfortunately, women with the most need to escape may be priced out.  Unequal access to leisure and tourism reflects the larger inequities of race and class as well as gender. 

    For many decades, travel has been a typical method of asserting women's independence.  Written accounts from the 19th and 20th centuries have left an intriguing record of their spirit of adventure and willingness to challenge established gender norms.   "[E]ach hoped to escape her mother's world, and each employed her travels as a source of creative, professional production" (Butler 1995:  488). It appears that the 21st century version of women traveling together to achieve certain goals fits within the model from earlier generations—women using tourism as "source of independence " (Butler 489) and resistance to gendered worlds.  However, the ultimate truism of a holiday is that one must return home.  It is in that context that we could most likely evaluate the consequences for independence, power and agency, resistance and control.

Thanks to George Conklin and one anonymous reviewer for assistance with this piece. Many sincere thanks to the women who let me into their lives on the Dude Ranch and by generously giving their time for interviews.  Hats off to the Cowgirls!

                        

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