Rachel Hofer of Berkeley, Calif., has been carrying a purse since she was 5 years old. Back then, it was the shiny Hello Kitty variety, and Hofer proudly stuffed it with toys, lip gloss and glitter pens. By junior high and into high school, she toted loud, brightly colored purses and crammed them with all the mysteries of adolescence.

Now that she is 24, Hofer’s handbag and its contents very much symbolize where she is in her life. In the chic Marc by Marc Jacobs satchel, the UC Berkeley art history student carries her wallet, cigarettes, sunglasses, pens, lip glosses, a copy of Margaret Atwood’s “The Blind Assassin” and season tickets to the opera.

“As women, we feel we always have to be prepared,” says Hofer, adding that she carries the book because she often eats out alone. “You never know what situation you’ll be in and what you’ll need.”

Women have been carrying containers filled with necessities since before the Paleolithic era. But the contents of a woman’s purse change dramatically as she moves through life. What a woman carries can reveal much about the multiple roles she plays and explains why so many say they feel incomplete without a purse.

Just as a college student’s backpack becomes an overnight bag, a working mother’s diaper bag often doubles as a briefcase. In her 2010 documentary, “The Contents of Her Purse,” Denver filmmaker Coleen Hubbard explores purse psychology in women ages 5 to 95.

She interviewed dozens of females for the film, including a toddler who carries stickers and barrettes, a young waitress with a separate makeup bag within her purse, and a ninetysomething whose handbag holds her hearing aid battery, handicapped parking sticker and denture cream.

“Toward the end of life, it becomes pretty poignant that we are more concerned with the maintenance of health than the maintenance of beauty and appearance,” Hubbard says. “But for all of us, it (a purse) provides a sense of safety, identity and preparation for going out into the world. Having what we need with us is so vital to our multiple roles as women. I’ve met very few women who would ever leave the house without a purse.”

Chris Cahill says she would feel naked without her purse, a modest, three-compartment black number Cahill scored at a garage sale for $3. But its contents reflect this Oakland, Calif., mother’s busy life.

Cahill, 55, recently returned to school for nursing, so the bag is always filled with notes, pens, pencils and highlighters. The little pieces of fabric and coupons to Bed, Bath & Beyond stuffed inside reveal her love of decorating and home improvement.

And the outdated, clunky cell phone she carries hints at how mom puts her kids first. “My kids get the cool, new cell phones,” she says. “I carry the old one.”

Since before the time of hunters and gatherers, women have been carrying necessities not only for themselves but for their communities, says Shirin Gerami, a women’s studies professor at San Jose State University.

“We are following our great-great-grandmothers’ advice,” Gerami says. “What you need, you take with you. But we also carry what our children, partners, or older parents might need because of our roles as caregivers.”

Gerami says women lead messy lives, and they are reflected in our purses.

“From the time we wake up to the time we go to bed, women have been to the office, the doctor, the soccer game, and the grocery store,” she says. “The messiness is not reflective of if we’re organized or creative, it’s reflective of all the things we have to do for everyone else. Of course, the hand bag designers are assiduous and take advantage of the situation to the point that we go broke and have back pain.”

Still, most of the women interviewed for this article and featured in Hubbard’s film were more concerned with functionality than designer labels.

Next to her iPhone, the most important thing in her purse, Diane Kopchik of Walnut Creek, Calif., also carries a pad of paper, a checkbook, eye glasses, a comb and lipstick. Peek inside her small, animal print lined purse and you might say the 65-year-old straddles two worlds.

The iPhone holds up-to-the-minute pictures of her four grandchildren, but the black and white photos in her wallet speak of another time. There’s the one of her now 73-year-old sister and brother-in-law on the day of their college graduation. There’s a photograph of her mother, who has since passed away. And there’s a shot of her 43-year-old son, John, taken when he was 18.

“I distinctly remember the day we took that,” says Kopchik, touching the photo with her finger tips. “Time passes so, so quickly. When I look at these pictures, it brings back those special memories.”

3 women, 3 handbags, 3 lifestyles

We asked Denver documentarian Coleen Hubbard, creator of “The Contents of Her Purse,” to dig a little deeper into the purses of three Bay Area women to tell us what the contents of their handbags reveal about them.

Suzi Harris, 43.

Handbag: Crescent-shaped, distressed orange leather with gold hardware.

Contents: Mail, bills, phone, keys, sunglasses, wallet, make up bag, camera, coupons and half a scone.

Analysis: “She’s creative, and has a funky sense of style. She’s very socially connected. Women who carry food are generally on the go and know that they need sustenance.”

Grace Hultquist, 16.

Handbag: Gold-toned Coach wristlet.

Contents: Keys, cell phone, driver’s license, $5 bill.

Analysis: “There’s a status attached to the Coach name, so I’d be curious to know if this was a gift. It’s very typical of teenage girls to throw the clutch into a back pack. The $5 is funny to an adult, but to a teenager it probably feels sufficient.”

Claire Pillsbury, 22.

Handbag: Marc Jacobs navy and black hobo with braided strap and gold hardware.

Contents: Wallet, day planner, Chapstick, hand lotion, pen, gum, bag of cookies and “room for a sweater.”

Analysis: “She’s a recent college graduate on her way to becoming an adult. This purse is part of how she travels and how she prepares herself as she looks toward her professional life. She sounds sophisticated.”

Documentary

Coleen Hubbard’s 2010 documentary, “The Contents of Her Purse,” follows the psychology of what women carry throughout the various stages of their lives. It is based on Hubbard’s 1987 play by the same name. For more information, visit www.contentsofherpurse.com.

Rachel Hofer of Berkeley, Calif., reaches into the depths of her purse to see what was in there.