The phrase carries baggage. It's more than just a term to specify a motoring demographic: it's been the punchline of sexist jokes as well as a term of criticism yelled out of car windows by male drivers.
As one would hope, the phrase "women drivers" as a put-down, and the attitudes that made it so common, are gradually disappearing. It's unfortunate that we had to include "gradually" in that last sentence, but there are still baffling gaps in the representation of women in some driving contexts. On this 2024 International Women's day, we take a closer look at one area from which women have been inexplicably absent for too long.
Motorsport is big business worldwide and Formula 1, like football (soccer), has truly international appeal: in fact, F1 is reportedly the fifth most popular sport in the world. But where many people (yes, even men) could probably name at least one past or present member of England's Lionesses football squad, they might struggle to name a single woman driver, past or present, in Formula 1. Why should that be?
Invisible barriers?
What is the reason for this conspicuous absence of women from Formula 1? Is it that they lack interest in the sport? Nope, not at all. Women comprise a visibly substantial part of the crowd at F1 events. Your humble blogger has female friends who love the sport. In fact, I polled my two daughters on the subject and it emerges that 50% of women are fanatical F1 fans. Admittedly the sample size could have been bigger but, for the sake of convenience, I'll consider the point made nonetheless: apathy and disinterest are not the reasons.
Lack of grit or ability?
Of course, there will be a few trolls ready to chime in with some variation of "Women just aren't up to it". Proof to the contrary, were it needed, is plentiful. Within the pages of Regtransfers' own magazine, The World of Personal Number Plates, we have featured women who have been more than happy to risk everything in high-speed competition.
Gina Campbell QSO is the daughter of the late Douglas Campbell and the granddaughter of Sir Malcolm Campbell. Both men were, and remain, legends of British driving. Sir Malcolm and, later, his son, Donald, each held both the world land and water speed records. Gina Campbell lived up to her heritage by successfully achieving world water speed records of her own. In fact, in the process, Gina attained higher speeds than either of her male predecessors.
We recently published an interview with top model Jodie Kidd - who also happens to be a car fanatic and racing driver. Jodie is a race-winning former Maserati driver and a Gumball Rally veteran. Oh, and she beat Jeremy Clarkson and fellow fast car fan Jay Kay from Jamiroquai when she took part in Top Gear's 'Star in a Reasonably Priced Car' challenge. Jodie also has her own popular YouTube channel where she basically drools over fast cars.
Bans or red tape?
Ok, so women love cars too. They know how to drive (and beat men at it) and they're not afraid to go fast. So why have only two women ever driven in F1 Grand Prix races, and none since Lella Lombardi raced in 1976?
Is there some bureaucratic impediment? Apparently not. So far as we can ascertain, there is no rule of any kind preventing women from competing as Formula 1 drivers. In fact, F1 itself has recognised the lack of women in its ranks and taken steps to address it.
In 2023, Formula 1 held the inaugural season of its F1 Academy, a women-only racing series. Don't be misled by the "women-only" thing. F1 Academy is not a segregation exercise aimed at producing a token female presence into the racing scene and keeping it in quarantine. F1 Academy's express aim is to give female drivers experience on the track, and to provide an advancement route to higher levels of motorsport, including to Formula 1 Grand Prix.
The inaugural season featured five teams, each entering three cars into the 15-car starting grid at each race. F1 Academy is a spec series competition using one common design specification for all competing cars. This puts all drivers on a more or less equal footing where technology and equipment are concerned, meaning that the races test driver ability rather than car design and engineering.
In 2022, ahead of the inaugural season, F1 Academy general manager Bruno Michel said "[...
