to bevery disappointed that only 63% of women can DRIVE!! ffs

[JunoWatt]

its like saudi arabia here
ONLY JUST OVER HALF OF US! GET A LICENCE LADIES

I drive because I want to, mainly due to crap local public transport. I couldn't care less if others want to learn or not really don't see how it can be turned into a men v women argument

Have a , OP. When your children, and your children's children, are paying the real consequences for the environmental shit hole this generation is creating, perhaps all those 'liberating" - and no doubt largely unnecessary - car journeys won't seem quite so clever.

I loooove to drive!

Meanwhile ladies, I suggest you give thanks that my DM does NOT drive. It would be a catastrophe waiting to happen!!!!!!!!!

I've been driving for 18 months now and DH for about 4-5 years. I love it. I'm a driving junkie, I offer to drive anywhere and everywhere. We have two cars (work in opposite sides of the city) and yes I love the freedom.
DH is very in to playing golf so he can go off in his car and I'm not stuck at the weekends trying to organise ways to get to places.

By anywhere and everywhere I don't mean the shop round the corner, I mean any journeys requiring driving.

Ive never had the need to drive untill having kids as I prefer bikes. So my husband is teaching me as I get very little time without the kids to be able to commit to lessons. This way I am getting lessons and also spending time with my husband. Thankfully he is a fantastic instructor.

"BTH I don't really want the over 60s to get a licence"

Sixty ffs? Do you know anyone of 60?

Christonabike, many of us are still working in demanding jobs and, amazingly, still have full control over our brains, bladders and cars!!!

Op you missed the point of those statistics.

They show that the proportion of women with a license is increasing whilst the proportion of men remains fairly static.

So I don't see what your problem is?

licence fucking iPad.

OP- stop it.

It's annoying being told we have to drive as some sort of feministy point.
It scares me, I am not safe and walking evrrywhere with the kids keeps me and them fit. It's good for the environment, my husband drives at weekends, I live 2 doors from the GP and there's a bus stop outside my house. I have had over 100 lessons @ £20 each and failed two tests. Driving makes me cry and shake. Back off and leave other people alone. None of your business.

Well said Nesta.

i agree its liberating for both men and women

but no need for everyone to have one, if you are in london its an advantage not to drive i would imagine

Thanks shakey

Those statistics also show that 10 years ago, 88% of men aged 40 - 49 could drive. 10 years later 92% of men aged 50 - 59 (i.e. the same group) could drive. So we have to conclude that over the last 10 year, 4% of men learned to drive in their late middle-age.

Well doen them!

and who the hell can afford car insurance as a new driver!!

And 62% of women aged 50-59 could drive 10 years ago, now that age group's percentage of drivers is 67%. So well done all those later middle-aged women learning how to drive!

Your point OP was what precisely?

as to how "only" 63% of women in this country drive means it's like Saudi Arabia here.

FWIW I don't drive as I can't afford to learn or indeed run a car. I do however have the right to vote, shag outside of marriage without the threat of 100 lashes or similar and I can wear what I like, when I like. Unlike in Saudi Arabia. So for that I count my blessings and figure that maybe it isn't so bad here after all....

It costs a fortune to get a license, keep a car on teh road, etc.

I learnt to drive 2 years ago - I am 46. Yes public transport takes you lots of places, but a car can make life much easier - usually just by making journeys much quicker. So it is much easier to nip round to a friends or to go to Asian supermarket to buy a few bits I can't get locally. So not essential, but worth doing.

Being able to drive IS a skill that I could not imagine not having.

Without a car you are restricted. Public transport is not always reliable or when you need it. Journeys take longer.

I couldnt wait to get my driving licence, and passed my test within a month of my 17th birthday.

I think the point about the Saudi Arabia comparison was to highlight that people can internalise gender assumptions, even when laws that enforce gender discrimination aren't in place.

You know that really - I'm merely stating the extremely obvious.

That internalisation is quite interesting, and for what it's worth, I think I agree with the OP.

I'd be interested to know how many women who have licenses actually drive, and where, and how often. And, of course, how they drive, and how they perceive their "skill".

There is a huge issue around driving and gender - come on, it's not exactly a secret.

It is a real shame that cars didn't develop from motorised prams - or handbags. Of course, there;s a reason for that (the unequal and gendered distribution of income, and research and development in technology being driven often by markets) - just think how different roads might be? I think there's be less of this weird, bad-tempered, often steroid-y type aggression out there on the roads if that had happened.

I grew up in London & never needed a car. It's ridiculous to say that you are deficient in some way if you don't drive - depends on circs.

I must admit, though, that it has always bothered me that when you see a man and a woman in a car, 99.999% of the time it's the man who is driving. This is, I suspect, down to testosterone and the fact that a woman would rather do without the criticism, comments about (lack of) speed, etc., and just accepts it's easier to let him drive if he wants to.

And like changing a plug/lightbulb, yeah I can do it but why should I if there's someone else who considers it his job and can save me the effort?

I don't drive.

I was anticipating a chaffeur but ah well, there is still time...

I disagree that driving is liberating. I got my licence at 19 (was not living in the UK) and have driven a lot, but I hate it and just love living in a city where I do not need or have to drive.