Cars have often been associated with men ever since their birth in the 1900s. Who would have known that female car designers would emerge? Designers such as Monika Zych, Sandy McGill, and Helen Emsley, show that women, too, can be free-spirited artists and designers when it comes to cars. They have devised the inner mechanism of cars, which often demonstrates to be difficult work. There are many more factors to consider, such as the comfort and convenience of the drivers, not to mention the detailed styling of vehicles. In fact, women may perhaps be more apt to interior design due to their attention to detail. They bring the completion of designing cars to a whole different level, by concentrating on details like color and shapes of each component. Can this mean then, that female drivers would prefer cars designed by the same sex? Contrary to what most men pay attention to, women look at more than how cars look from the outside, such as space for their belongings. Ultimately, female designers satisfy this kind of practicality.
However, this does not justify why car exteriors designed by females are so rare in the automobile industry. The industry’s upper administration, according to Tara Weingarten, is a “men’s club” and the glass ceiling still exists within it. Few examples of designs led by females include the BMW Z4 and the Volvo YCC concept cars. The exterior designs do not only serve as what people come across at the very first sight, but also serve how people perceive the brand. Details also exist in the designs of car exterior, such as the contour, curve, and tint of different pieces – headlights and door handles. This aspect gives women qualification to be engaged in the exterior designs as well. Through collaboration, female and male designers can remedy each other’s shortcomings.
The issue of gender inequality is witnessed rather conspicuously, outside of the design world. Although women represent half of all workers in the United States, this does not mean that they are fully represented in their workplace. According to the government census, they tend to earn significantly less than men, despite their abilities and talents. Closing the gap between men and women can and should be accomplished, as their skills can complement each other through cooperation in the workplace. This is an important step to true equality in society.
Works Cited:
Kelly, Caitlin. “A Woman’s Touch, Still a Rarity in Car Design.” The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 29 Oct. 2013. Web. 1 Nov. 2013. < <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/30/automobiles/a-womans-touch-still-a-rarity-in-car-design.html?ref=design&_r=0>.
I think this can lead to some interesting sociological research on male and female skills assuming that they differ but that alone would be sexist wouldn’t it? I think it’s more of an issue that there is a long withstanding thought that anything that has to do with automotives is a guys job. Now, with the emergence of more women as engineers and architects etc., we will see this stereotype start to fade.
The automotive industry is mainly male dominate because of the sexist associations and its history. When cars were first developed it was marketed toward males. This maybe due to the cost of early automobiles and the higher income of men. This created an idea that cars were meant for men. As a result, ideas that woman can’t drive are implanted in our culture. Saudi Arabia has even gone as far as to ban women from driving. This is all nonsense because there is no proof or scientific basis for such beliefs. Men and women are both capable of driving.
Women are entering many male dominated fields especially engineering. There are various programs that encourage and provide benefits for women who enter male dominated fields. College was a male dominated institution until recently when women began attending college more than men. This pattern of increasing involved by women will continue in various fields including car designing.
The things is men and women aren’t born with gender difference. When men and women are born they are born with difference in sex, which is the difference in the genitals. What causes the different treatment of men and women is society’s influences later in their life. One is not born to be men or women, but one has to learn to be a man or a woman. After being born one would be influenced by the surroundings and adapt to what is appropriate for him or her and what is not appropriate. While we talk about skills in art and designing, there is really no difference in men and women because they are not born with any differences that could influence their skills in designing. There should be gender equality in the designing field, or in all intelligence based fields.
I’m interested in the idea that female designers and male designers work together to achieve the perfect balance between functionality and practicality. This leads to great innovation in automobile design. I wonder if this way of working together would be beneficial in other industries such as engineering and architecture. And, if not, what is it about automobile design that requires a level of close teamwork? I imagine that it’s the design of an intricate small space that requires such diligence.
As for why there is such a great discrepancy between women in the automobile field and men, I think it comes down to what dominant culture projects as feminine and masculine. That isn’t to say that there aren’t a good fraction of girls who play in dirt or do things we stereotypically associate with boys, but the fraction of girls who end up in a male dominated field narrow as culture shapes who we become.
Cars always had a masculine connotation to them. I think most guys have heard of the notion that in order to get a girl, one would need to have a car. This idea has been repeated over and over again in movies. We probably think of a hot red convertible when it comes to “bagging girls.” Cars have to look great and catch people’s eyes in order for young guys to receive attention. Because of this image, I think cars have always been more marketed to men.
Even nowadays, men are mostly featured in car commercials that feature nice “contours, curves, and tints.” These commercials feature eye-candy that attract men. In addition, cars are featuring more and more new gadgetry and special features, which make these kinds of cars all the more fascinating since most men have an interest in gizmos and technology.
On the other hand, car commercials that feature women are less common because women value more practical aspects of cars such as having enough space to put their purses or other belongings. This kind of feature is not as attractive overall and probably would not make the car sell well. Because of this, it is probably more profitable and practical to market towards men.
This is yet another aspect of art that has gone largely unexamined. Prior to reading this article, I had not given any thought to car designing because it’s one of those arts that we see, yet forget to acknowledge. While I find the concept of interior car designing interesting, I am unsure of how much scope there is in such a field. I mean, how many designs can you possibly have? How can you make each car look unique and aesthetically appealing in comparison to others? That has to be a challenging and daunting task!
The new trend in the car-designing field has resulted in women involvement. What I don’t understand, however, is why are the women designers being viewed in a different light? Was the writer of the article trying to juxtapose the car designing abilities of men and women? I wonder how the cars designed by women will vary compared to the design by the men in the industry. It will be undoubtedly interesting to see the responses the new designers receive in the market relative to the past designs.
Although it is possible that some will initially refrain from buying cars designed by women, I think we have evolved to a position where people will look past such differences to notice and evaluate talent conspicuous in the product.
Finally, as far as the economic inequality is concerned, I think government has been trying to solve the problem for years. In addition, schools, colleges, and families should encourage women participation in math and sciences. Today, women occupy fewer positions of authority (even in the industrialized nations) than males. One needs to understand the nature of such phenomenon and act towards solving it because ultimately, in business and arts, it is talent and hard work that count and differ one individual from another.
I think you chose a very interesting topic. I never thought much about how cars are always associated with men rather than women even though today, there are about as much female drivers as there are male drivers in most countries. Also, I was completely unaware that there are female car designers out there because there are so few of them. As the article points out, I think the glass ceiling still exists for female car designers due to the gender roles set by society ever since the first automobile was created. Cars were traditionally marketed for men and have been perceived as a “masculine thing.”
I think females should be given a fair chance at becoming car designers for both exterior and interior because men and women often have different designs in mind and it would add more variety to designs if there were more female designers. Hopefully, as time goes by, the stereotype that only men could be good engineers would fade. I know that many colleges focused on engineering and architecture are trying their best to encourage more women to partake in these fields. I think both genders have equal abilities in both driving and designing cars.
This was an interesting article. I do agree that interior design seems to be a field dominated by females. There’s a show called “Flipping Las Vegas” where a man takes old houses and redesigns them to make profit. He leaves the interior design for his wife only. She picks the colors, furniture, etc. I found it strange that cars are much like mobile houses, yet women aren’t associated with cars until now. I think this just goes to show that this century, gender roles and associations are being challenged. I mean, think of fashion. Thought to be dominated by women, yet the most famous designers: Jimmy Choo, Michael Kors, Vince Camuto, Marc Jacobs, Alexander McQueen, Jeffrey Campbell, Jason Wu, are all men! This idea just illustrates genders shouldn’t be associated with an industry, or vice versa. Whatever interests a person should be their calling, regardless of who “dominates” an industry.
Janice Fong
Oh wow, I was really compelled by your choice of article because it surprised me in many ways. I never really thought about car designing as a field for some reason. That sounds pretty silly, but I didn’t realize all that went into creating the different curves, lines, shapes, etc. of different car models. I didn’t really see it as much of a big process. Not that you bring it up though, I definitely see that car designing is quite important, just like clothing, jewelry, web designing, etc.
It is surely a bit perplexing that women haven’t played quite a big role in designing cars, since cars are such universal vessels of transportation. Meanwhile, commonly, cars are definitely seen as quite manly. For this reason, I can see why it would be a bit problematic to have just men designing cars. Many of them don’t put as much consideration into interior space, instead choosing to emphasis a sleek, showy exterior. Thus, I do agree that collaboration would be key between men and women designers. Either way, it is most important that a field is dominated by those that design well and enjoy their job, instead of simply looking for a gender balance.
As a very large car enthusiast, there is definitely a strong correlation between men and cars. When I go to cars meets such as Cars & Coffee or Englishtown Raceway, the testosterone is definitely flowing. Although the female presence is definitely less, it is still there. From my experience, women are less cocky at these events and are more willing to ask questions to learn more. The field is definetely dominated by men but there is definitely an increasing trend of women entering.
My brother, who has a BA in psychology, told me that extremely masculine men tend to buy vehicles with feminine curves whereas extremely feminine women tend to buy large SUVs that are higher off the ground compared to other cars. However, this psychology is formed by American marketing, which is generally run by men. If more females are entering the design side of the industry, I believe that there will definitely be a change in what women actually want vehicle-wise and a change in advertisements tailored towards women.
A similar article to what my brother was talking about can be found here: http://www.oprah.com/spirit/The-Psychology-of-Driving-Car-Buying-Habits
I must disagree with Ralph’s comment that with the emergence of women as engineers and architects, that stereotype will start to fade. I believe that women will always be stereotyped in “manly” fields, which will further deter them for many more years to come.
Beside that, I agree with your statement that women are more attentive to detail, thus producing “quality work”. While I do believe that women and men should be equally integrated into the workplace, I still believe there are some places that men and women have their own evident hierarchy over. In a sense, some women like freedom/intimidation of being the only woman in the workplace, but other women may feel intimidated.
Women want “cute”, little cars (I know that was my concern when buying my car! Despite what my father made me get), while men want great durability and horsepower. It only makes sense that a car designed by a woman would fit a woman’s needs better.
I think this is a very interesting article. I have personally always associated cars with males, but your post has given me great insight on females’ roles in their design. I was surprised to read that women focus more on the practicality of the cars than the outward appearance, since I typically find females to be more concerned about looks. However, I guess it also makes sense that they would concentrate on having compartments to place their belongings. Women’s abilities are often underestimated, but this article demonstrates that females are just as capable as males. Designers of both genders should definitely work together to create more efficient cars.
I found your article to be very interesting. I liked that you chose an article tackles the important issue of gender inequality. Even in today’s modern society, there are certain fields that are dominated by men. For example, cars have a masculine connotation that makes people associate the idea with men; however, women make significant contributions. Personally, I believe that women are often underestimated in these situations. They have many good ideas and contributions but are often overlooked in these male dominated industries. Changing these stereotypes is a long and slow process; however, hopefully with time, men and women will be equal in the workplace. It is very interesting to see how men and women will combine their ideas together to design new automobiles.
I think what you said here is especially interesting because the car industry is one of the few areas of work that is completely a “boys club”. Personally, it makes me think about how gender roles are so engrained into our society that male and female designers have to be polar opposite. It raises the question, do cars and other created inanimate objects have genders? I believe that the answer to this question is not simply a yes or no and varies heavily upon the specific creator. It isn’t fair to label their creations as male or female vehicles the same way you don’t cite a particular building with a gender. Although certain aspects of a creation may reflect the views of the creator, they are just that: the views of the creator. Industries like this should move to a place where the issue isn’t simply male or female but rather who can do it best. In the end, I think the best case scenario will involve men and women working together to balance their strengths and weaknesses as individuals so that the project created is done so in full.
The more and more I look around me, the more and more I notice gender inequality problems in the world. In my high school, people had pretty positive attitudes about equality between genders, and I’m thankful that I was exposed to such an open-minded community because I see less and less of this now that I’m out in the “real world,” so to speak. I never really knew or thought about that the automobile industry’s higher administration was dominated by a “men’s club” sort of feel, but I’m also not really surprised. As a male, I personally don’t associate with cars, and I also pay attention to the interior of a car because I am concerned about my comfort and was never really a “car person.” This just goes to show that many things that people think of in terms of gender can’t/shouldn’t really be thought of in terms of gender.