An Iranian auto manufacturer has come up with a car designed specifically for women.
& While my gut says ugh there’s a part of me that finds this a good thing, acknowledging that women do most of the child-ferrying, can’t change a flat tire as easily, etc.
But then my gut says ugh again.
Thoughts?
Most of these features are just user-friendly ones. The real problem is them saying that women need these more than men.
I feel your “ugh”.
Ugh!
What caprice said.
I hate that these features are marketed as women’s stuff. I have plenty of women friends who mock my automatic transmissions. However, I don’t need no stinking electronic parking aids. (Hello? That’s what mirrors are for… MOM, are you listening? Mirrors! Look in the… oh hell, time for another new garage door.) Better colors though? I’m all over that.
These things should be marketed to everyone. It’s not about gender, it’s about how you like/need to drive. Let me get a pretty car — something in a glossy aubergine, say — and (dear God please) let my mother have some help backing up. Let my friend have her stick shift.
Cars for women. Pffft.
(On the other hand, if buying a chickmobile could guarantee my husband wouldn’t drive it… I could maybe rethink my aversion.)
I think my answer lies with what feminism, at its very core, means to me. Equal consideration, not special consideration.
Also, by marketing this towards mothers, instead of any parent, grandparent, or caretaker with children, it perpetuates the stereotype and archetype of women as the primary responsible party for childcare. Women as the soft, useless, weak, need protected, need a helping hand, nurturers. Bleck.
And damnit, I can change a tire just fine, but the difficulty raised by having children present while I’m doing it drastically changes the number of possible outcomes and safety issues. That has nothing to do with me being a woman. That’s an aspect of having children when shit happens.
Yeah, I know it’s in Iran, not here. Just wait. Some jackass will see this and think it would work here as well.
I like my cars a little old, gas-efficient, with standard transmissions and lots of cargo space and a full-size spare. Also fast, but not so they look it and attract attention. So I’m never going to be their market.
But when I think about it, I suspect that this could eventually be a good thing for women in other Mid-East countries, like Saudi Arabia, where women aren’t allowed to drive at all. I’d bet those women would be happy to drive one of these, just so they could drive.
Back in 1955 Dodge tried to market a model called “La Femme,” which the advertising stated was “by appointment to Her Majesty, the American Woman.” It was two-toned pink, and it came with a little umbrella, purse, and makeup case. (It was a total flop, although a fascinating artifact. http://www.dodgelafemme) It’s fascinating how Iranian pop culture is reinventing 50s Americana, it really is.
Fascinating tidbit: despite the stereotypes, women are LESS likely than men to buy cars with automatic transmission or other power/convenience gadgets. Why? For the simple reason that women tend to have less money to spend than men. (Another small reminder of the impossibility of separating reasoned examinations of gender or sex roles independently of economics…)