[Women, age and mobility in traffic].

The observation that the topic "older women in traffic" does not hold a prominent position within existing literature in this field is the starting-point of this paper. Apart from a mere numerical deficiency of respective contributions, we assume in addition the existence of a conceptual weakness in the scientific discourse. Therefore we try to develop a general concept of mobility along age-relevant and gender-related dimensions, present afterwards-as an empirical supplement-some selected examples from focus group and in-depth interviews, and finally outline a proposition for a concept of mobility of older women (and men), which is intended to provide some practical reference for operationalization in empirical research. The frame of this concept is constituted by the assumption that outdoor mobility is rooted in social structures and their change, as they are represented in a certain historical time, and simultaneously, by purposeful action of the individuals involved, from which these structures finally emanate.