To think for women born in the '50s, driving is a class thing?

[DaggersDrawn]

Of my friends who's mums are 40s/50s born - I've noticed that every one who's mums don't drive are working class. Those whose mums drive are uni educated/ middle class - bar a few exceptions.

AIBU to be surprised at this in the Year of Our Lord 2023?

My mum and her sisters (born in 50s) spent many years living in rural communities in poor countries abroad as teens and they were just given the keys to the family car and told to go and fetch this or that so learned on the job as it were. My Grandma didn't need to drive until she had kids and moved abroad as she lived in London and cycled or took the bus everywhere.

Even in my life time (born late 70s) cars and driving have only recently started to be viewed as essential. I knew plenty of families growing up that lived in cities and felt no need for a car.

My DM was born in 1940. Very much working class. She has driven since I was born in 1962. Most of her friends of the same age drive and they are all working class too. I can only think of one aunt of that age who doesn't drive.

Class does come into it. I think sometimes the definition of class matters. You will get people here claiming everyone working class they knew drives of that age when they are talking about teachers, and not cleaners and admin staff.
My mum did not drive. ,y father learned to drive before he could legally drive from older brothers. There was no money for either of them for driving lessons. My grandfather was taught to drive during the war, my grandmother obviously was not,
Some working class women of that age can/could drive, but many could not.

My mum was born in the 50s, never learned to drive. She was raised middle class.
She was also a teenage mother and so money for driving lessons was never a priority.

My mum can drive. She grew up very poor indeed.

Still the same, is it not?

As kids in the 80s we were considered the posh side of the family because mum could drive and none of the rest of her very wc family could.

Still much more likely for the wc women I know to not drive.

Yes, I’ve seen it with my mum and many of her friends and was encouraging her to drive more just this week for this reason!

My dad grew up dirt poor, born in the 40s. He learnt to drive just by taking a car. He knew the owner, didn't have permission or anything like licence/insurance or whatever was needed. Just took the car.

What a silly remark. It's not snobbish to look at links between class & various life outcomes. It's an important factor, not to be dismissed because some people don't like to think about it.

On that theme: the lowest-income groups in the UK were only half as likely to enter university in 2004-2005, and 5% less likely to finish their degree. Data on this weren't collected in the 1970s, but analogous reports indicate the disparity was even wider. Why do you think universities are trying harder to admit students from less-well-off backgrounds and students 'of colour'?

My dm drives as does mil

Dgm born during WW1 also learnt to drive later in life

My mum was born in 1940 , she tried to learn to drive when we were small but was rubbish at it and restarted and passed her test when I was 14 ( she was still rubbish at it ) . She hadn’t learnt when she was younger ( pre marriage ) because she worked in London and didn’t need to drive or have the finances to do so .

My mum learned to drive in her 30s and did a degree in her 30s her parents were a working class, she was born in 1955 - she'd have struggled to learn to drive much younger, or do a degree as she was a teen mum.

My mum - born in 1943 - is middle-class, but not University educated. She had a few lessons and hated driving. Her 2 best friends don't drive either for similar reasons. It was always assumed their husbands would drive everywhere, although as soon as I turned 17, my mum was keen for me to learn.

My mum born in 1947, working class has driven all her life. As do her friends

My mum learned to drive and (properly started her career) in 1980 when she was 28 after having 3 kids. She was working class along with my dad and their families although my parents probably wouldn’t be seen as that these days!

My mum was born in 49. She has very working class roots but lives a very middle class life now. But when she learnt to drive she was definitely working class.

My mum was also a massive hippy though in her youth so she wouldn’t have given a hoot about class and she needed to be able to drive to festivals in the 60’s! She went all over Europe in a van and was at the first Glastonbury. She was very cool.

My Mum and Mil both born 55 and both drive, both working class. I remember most of my friends mum's driving as well (all around the same age).
I'm 80s born, middle class and only just starting driving lessons. I think it's based more on the need to be able to or not than class. I've never really needed to learn as always lived in areas with excellent transport but I'm not a sahm of 2 so it would make my life a lot easier.

Neither of my grannies drove and they were both born in the 1920s. My mum was born in the 50s and drove. I don't think it was class related as they were all similar in terms of class (wives of professionals who also sometimes worked, so I guess lower middle class)?

My mam was born in the 50s... passed her test in her late 30s... drove to the local shops and back.. I'm 36 and haven't passed my test yet... some of us are made to be chauffeured... or had shit driving instructors who actually put us off for years due to being creepy perverts who harassed and bullied us but that's a story for another thread.

Maybe a generalisation but DH mum working class never driven … my mum drives and is very middle class.. however DH mum lives and has always lived in a large city so prob not much need to drive whereas mine is very rural and has mostly been all life. I do think tho for many of that era it was either drive as a necessity eg coz live rural / work etc or don’t drive coz they don’t have to. We grew up fairly rurally and nearly all women I knew drove , it was pretty much a necessity altho obv im sure some didn’t. My husbands mum didn’t need to drive money / no money it was very easy to get about

And? An interesting aspect now consigned to history. But it would be interesting to discover that point in time when the ability to drive became gender-neutral; and the variables in between.

Besides the economic abilities to be able to afford to buy and run a car, that not so many women used to drive as much as men isn't down to class, but down to the previous societal categorizations and treatment of women no matter what 'class' they were born/married into.

My mum is an early 50s baby and drives. She was determined to drive as soon as she could and passed her test at about 18. My aunt is a mid 40s baby and also drives but passed later than my mum - her baby sister. Both very middle class. Ditto their mum, my grandma who was an early 1920s baby and passed in her late 40s I think - she wanted to drive my aunts dc as she did most of the childcare for my aunt.

My parents (W class) were both born in the 20s, my mother learnt to drive before my father did. I was born in the 50s (W class) passed my test at 22, looking back that was because I was planning to go back to work as my youngest had started school. ( teen mum) All my friends of my age and older drive. My mother did learn because of her job I think if you were a SAHM you didn’t drive unless you were wealthy enough to own a car for leisure.

My mum was born in 1948, and learned to drive at 17. She was one of 7 kids (only girl), and their dad taught them all as soon as they were old enough. The only one who doesn't drive is one with disabilities, who wouldn't be able to. They were very definitely working class - brought up in a 2 bed council terrace, all left school ASAP, except mum and one other, who trained in 'professional' roles.
Most of her friends of a similar age drive. We didn't have much money when we were kids (mum a SAHM - 3 kids), but we always had an old car.
My mum was actually a better driver than my dad, too.

That was the same about finance into the early '70s, even though we were both working and earning similar amounts my husband would have to sign for any finance.