You're either a woman or a human
The text seeks to reproduce the misrecognized wholeness and dispell the disquieting interruption invoked by the presence of the Other. (Hottel)
The narratives in "Easy Rider" and "Vagabond" share many similar elements; the protagonists experience many of the same events, feelings and dangers. They experience the inherent dangers of being on the road; they live and sleep out in nature throughout most of their travels; they are outcasted by the people surrounding them, who criticize their ways and their seeming freedom; they suffer the hatred and violence of these people; and die in the end. But the main difference between thes two tales is gender, and the effect this has the on the events the protagonists experience and the ways in which the director narrates the story.
Mona is a woman and Billy and Wyatt are not; or maybe a better statement would be that Billy and Wyatt are men(mankind) and Mona is not. Billy and Wyatt suffer an attack at night, from men that hate them for who they are and what they represent, namely hippie culture and a masculinity and freedom that the people don't approve of. Mona also suffers a violent attack, specifically rape. Not because of her freedom or her differentness, but because is a woman. The rapist stalks and attacks her because she is a prey to him, simply because she is a (female) sexual object.
Billy and Wyatt find a potential home at a commune of likeminded men and women. But they decide to leave, in order to continue their journey. It is a conscious and personal choice they make, to not accept the home that is offered to them. Mona finds residence and work with a man who is willing to aid her and provide for her a home environment. But she is forced to leave because the other workers to not want a woman with them.
Some similarities do exist between the experiences of the three protagonists. They live on the road, sleeping out in nature, in the harsh environments, though Mona's is harsher due to the weather. All three also have sexual partners, which they pick up with ease, and leave again when they want to move on to something different and new. Yet Mona is on equal terms or at an equal level with her male companions, while Billy and Wyatt hold a great control over the prostitutes that they hire.
The differences in experience and narrative come down to the femaleness of Mona. Her experiences are always visibly and noticeably affected by her gender. Gender does play a role in Billy and Wyatt's traverses, but it is such an unmarked and standard effect, that it is not noticeable or acknowledged. This is also true with the cinematography of the films.
As the Hottel quote explains, the director of "Vagabond" made stylistic choices in order to present Mona as normal, as not Other. The force to Other females is so strong that the director had to attempt to place Mona as normal, at an equal level with everyone else. This had the (intented or unintended) effect of placing the protagonist of the story, not as the visual and narrative center of the story, but at the common theme by which all the other narrators connect their stories. Billy and Wyatt control what the spectator sees and hears, whereas Mona lacks this control and is presented as she is portrayed by everyone around her; in a sense still existing as an Other.