Let’s talk about women at driving | Alessia Munari

Alessia Munari is a driving instructor in northern Italy and the founder of a project that supports women who experience fear or anxiety while driving. Working alongside a traffic psychologist, she addresses not only technical driving skills but also the emotional impact of long-standing sexist stereotypes. Alessia notes that jokes portraying women as bad drivers are harmful: they undermine confidence and, over time, can create genuine fear. In her work, she sees young women convinced they drive poorly simply because they are women, middle-aged women burdened by years of mockery, and older women who never learned to drive because it was once considered a male domain.

Data in Italy show a persistent gender gap: while men and women obtain licenses at similar rates at 18, the gap widens in adulthood, with far fewer women holding licenses. Alessia created her project to provide a space where women’s experiences are taken seriously, and she views driving as a powerful tool of autonomy. Helping a woman get her license, she says, can truly change her life, making this work a form of everyday, practical feminism.

Three women that inspire Alessia Munari

• Simone de Beauvoir
• Manal Al-Sharif
• Annie Ernaux

This is part of WP1 | T.1.2. PRODUCTION OF ORIGINAL MULTIMEDIA CONTENTS: RESEARCH, STUDIES, ARCHIVAL MATERIALS, TESTIMONIES OF WITNESSES