Question of the day (QOTD): How Can More Women Be Inspired To Become Gearheads?

MrsJrotax101

MrsJrotax101

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How Can More Women Be Inspired To Become Gearheads?


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Cars themselves are gender neutral, but the culture that customizes them, maintains them, and worships them is predominantly male. What can gearheads (both men and women) do now to bring more women into car culture?



Simply enough, if you're working on your car and you want to invite some friends over for a day of wrenching, don't assume that you shouldn't call someone just because they're a woman. You can always be more inclusive. What other specific things can people do to get more women interested and involved in cars?

Photo Credit: Carl242

Article from: http://jalopnik.com/5907352/how-can-more-women-be-inspired-to-become-gearheads
 
Talk to her about different kinds of shafts and pipes. :eyebrows:
 
I'd say a lot has to do with their exposure to cars growing up. If you've got family members who are all into cars/collecting, you'd probably have a greater chance of being into them. Look at John Force's daughters.
 
Honestly, being a gear head myself, it has a lot to do with our upbringing. I was more or less born at a mechanic shop. I always went to work with my dad when he owned his own shop up until I started school. My dad would involve me in everything and teach me about it. What got me into the cars was the bond my dad and I formed when we worked on cars together. I began to associate it with happiness and positive feeling. It all evolved from there. My sister who was born when my dad still owned the shops never went to them because times changed and she had to stay home with my mom more. She became the one into dolls and manicures. She never had the exposure I did because my dad had to work to support 3 people who didn't work. My sister then became more like my mom in that sense. I also feel that the reason older women aren't that into cars is because of what society made acceptable for our gender to do and like. This was then drilled in their parent's minds and it got passed on until the social chains so to speak were broken and women felt more ok with being against the norm.

The only thing people can possibly do to get a woman into cars is by associating them with things the girl likes. Teach her how to make her car, "cute" or "pretty" and covered in pink and glitter. She may evolve into a gear head if you are lucky
 
KennyGS said:
My wife will never be interested in cars beyond their utilitarian uses. Automobiles mean little more to her than transportation.
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I'd say this.

Some of the girls I know simply don't understand cars. They don't understand why going 60mph in a straight line in a 2012 Porsche GT3 RS is nowhere near as dangerous as it is in a 1992 Chevy Cutlass Ciera. :P So they simply divert to the negative. They don't understand that some cars can take a turn without flipping over.

It's happened to me before. I'll be cruising along, going around a bend, and all of a sudden the girl in my passenger seat starts flipping out. It freaks me out at first, because I'm like, "What?! What?! What happened!?"

Then she informs me that we "were going top fast for that corner", even though my tires were perfectly glued to the road the whole time. I chuckle to myself and carry on driving.

Perhaps best way to do it would be to get more girls out there driving nice cars, so they'll learn to appreciate why one vehicle is more valuable than another. And why spending money on buying a nice car is a worthwhile investment.
 
My wife has been with me many times when I've driven very hard.

If we're in twisties, she'll say, "keep driving like that if you want me to puke all over the interior."

If I mash the throttle from a stop light, she'll look over at me and say, "What is wrong with you?"

She's funny. :rotfl:
 
Well I'm a girl and I can't say I'm a gear head. I like cars, I know my makes and models, I know what I like and it doesn't have to do with how cute the car looks. I know the basics of how things work and I like to talk about cars and ask a lot of questions. I love pressing the gas to go around the bends instead of mashing the brakes. My girlfriends usually look at me like aren't u taking that corner a lil fast? Even my dad asks me that too, even though he is a speed demon, he doesn't like me to speed when he is actually in the car. Me n my bf talk about cars, talk about my civic a lot. I watch top gear, uk n us version lol. But as far as hands on like getting my hands dirty, I haven't really experience that. Most I've done is clean my car. Check oil levels pour in fluids, simple things. I would like to try getting my hands dirty, but haven't had a chance to get that experience. Most of my girlfriends think I'm weird for all the above mentioned things. They feel a car is to get around in and look cute in.
 
KennyGS said:
My wife has been with me many times when I've driven very hard.

If we're in twisties, she'll say, "keep driving like that if you want me to puke all over the interior."

If I mash the throttle from a stop light, she'll look over at me and say, "What is wrong with you?"

She's funny. :rotfl:
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My gf does the same thing plus if we are doing 50 she thinks we are doing 70 or 80 but on the flip side if no one is around she tells me can I hit this speed or that speed or if somebody in a slow car tries to race me she wants me to smoke them....lol
 
Well anyone who was at The Dragon in 2009 I think can attest to how much my gf was seen....lol. This is after I told her it was a car meet...
 
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