Women Can

How often have you been behind the wheel, only for some guy to overtake you and yell back at you, as if it was your fault? Women have been held equal to bad driving skills more times than we can think of. But, to hold someone accountable for their inefficiency to perform a task, quite simply based on their gender is discrimination at its finest. This sexism has given a bad reputation to women drivers, but in all honesty, there are no bad drivers, just bad stereotypes and it’s time we try to bust them. 

Can there not be a possibility that a generation of patriarchy and male dominance have created this misanthropic notion? This stereotype, just like many others, has been paraded around for a much longer time than we can think of. Perhaps the insinuation emerged for possibly letting women know their place in the world. It wasn’t behind car wheels parading around the city and enjoying the time of their lives, no, that was simply meant for men. A woman’s place was inside the four walls of her house to cook and serve her husband. And in the most un-idealistic fashion, a stigma was born that was perpetuated by folklore, comics, television shows and movies in a humorous context- Women can NOT drive!

Since then, we have been held responsible for our poor driving skills, blaming them on multitasking, indecisiveness or wearing heels. However, statistics based on research conducted by various universities prove that women are far more conscious and better drivers than men. Men tend to drive faster than women and have lesser regard for traffic safety rules, making them more prone to traffic accidents. They are known to have rash driving skills, like speeding off unnecessarily and even drunk driving, thereby increasing the probability of crashing by almost two times as compared to women. But in spite of statistics proving otherwise, why are we still hell bent on believing this notion? 

Women are becoming increasingly self-reliant and it's time we need to relinquish the stigma attached to women drivers. But the idea of having a woman driver behind the wheels, making her own life decisions and driving off to where she sees fit, doesn’t comply with most males and their idea of an ideal world. So easily, women lacking driving skills have gotten adjacent to propagating male chauvinism and bigotry in this world. This thought process has also led to a conditioned outset with new female car drivers that tend to get anxious and nervous while maneuvering a car, shaking their confidence. Women often find it hard to change car lanes or try reverse parking and it’s not because they aren’t taught well. No, it’s because we have been pre-programmed to possibly fail at this and therefore, are even apprehensive to try it out. 

So, what can be done? Although, more women can be seen on the road now. Not so long ago, women would be seen driving when it was the last available option. Have we ever stopped to think why? Because if we do, we may begin to realize that the problem is far bigger and severe than the question of who drives better. Perhaps, if we remove the discrimination and sexism behind this notion, we may be surprised to find out that accidents aren’t dependent on our genders but on reckless drinking habits, rash driving skills and disregard for traffic laws. That’s equality, right there, condemning people for the nature of their crime rather than their gender. But for now, for all those women out there, just remember, every time you anger a man for overtaking him or vice versa, it’s not the man talking, it’s the bruised ego.