What women want

There's a problem only leaving motoring awards up to the men.

Contributing Journalist

The Australian (1054)

25 Jul 2013 • 6 min read

When champion British racing driver Stirling Moss claimed women do not have what it takes to compete in Formula One a few months ago, he opened scars in one of the final frontiers of the gender war: cars.

The predominance of men in motorsport is just the most visible example of a gender imbalance that runs from top to bottom of the car industry. Just a few days before, a panel consisting almost totally of men awarded World Car of the Year honours to the Volkswagen Golf.

For next year's award there will be 66 male judges and just three women. That sort of inequity flies in the face of market reality. Figures from Roy Morgan Research show those intending to buy a car are almost evenly split, 54 per cent male to 46 per cent female. Most research suggests women influence up to 80 per cent of vehicle purchase decisions but when it comes to handing out gongs, they barely get a vote.

A few years ago, some of them decided to do something about it and began Women's World Car of the Year. “We felt there was a need for the collective voice of women to be heard,” said one of the prime-movers behind the award, Sandy Myhre of New Zealand. This year's judges, 18 women from 10 countries, are all motoring writers and many are well known from motorsport or TV, such as Renuka Kirpalani of India and Vicki Butler-Henderson from the UK.

Announced earlier this month, the award went to the Ford Fiesta Ecoboost. Previous winners include the Range Rover Evoque in 2012, a tie between the BMW 5 Series and Citroen DS3 in 2011, and the Jaguar XF at the inaugural 2010 event.

Butler-Henderson, a former Top Gear host and for more than a decade presenter of rival UK program Fifth Gear, says makers have lifted their game over the past decade when it comes to making cars appealing to women, with Mini leading the way. “Look at the car showrooms now, especially the halo ones,” she says, “all glitzy and inviting, mirrors and shiny surfaces throughout, a huge list of options”.

“Mini focused manufacturers into tailoring their cars more towards women. And although it's still mainly confined to the smaller cars -- Citroen DS3, Vauxhall Adam, Fiat 500 and so on -- Ferrari brought out the California especially to capture the female market.” But it boils down to purpose, rather than gender.

“The design of some cars might suit a woman's taste more than others, and, yes, there are more mums who drive the kids around so perhaps the people-mover market is more geared to women, but other than that we all drive using the same equipment -- eyes, arms, legs, steering wheels, brakes and so on.”

WWCOTY judge Karla Pincott, Editor of Carsguide.com.au agrees the differences come down to the reason for purchase. “Women tend to put a higher priority than men on the space and versatility of the cabin and boot, and they're very influenced by the styling,” says Pincott. “Of course, that doesn't mean they're not interested in how the car performs, but high-performance ability -- or the impression of it -- is not such a priority, particularly in choosing a family car.”

Cars themselves are gender neutral according to another judge, New Zealand-based car and motorbike writer Jacqui Madelin. This is borne out by the award shortlists, where there's substantial overlap. “If you're a young dad looking for a family car you're looking for more or less the same things as a young mum shopping for a car,” Madelin says.

But there's a problem leaving motoring awards up to the men. “The assumption is that men will talk about vehicles for both genders. A lot of the women judges are better at remembering that many of the cars will be owned by real people in the real world.”

“For example, if you're looking at a small hatch you have also to consider how easy the tether points are for a child seat. Some of the guys forget that because it doesn't interest them.” Madelin is not alone in being an enthusiast and she believes that this, rather than gender, is where the difference lies.

“I don't think there's such a thing as a woman's car, but there's such a thing as a petrol-head's car and a non-petrol head's car. Most of the female judges are petrol heads. Butler-Henderson has been racing since she was 12, starting in go-karts, and has driven a Formula One car. “The main thing I love about a car is the way its engine performs and its chassis handles,” she says.

“Oh, a good noise gets a big tick too. It just happens that I am a woman.” So why are there so few female enthusiasts? Butler-Henderson says she was inspired by her father, Guy, who was in the British Karting Team when he was a teenager. But she was in the minority. “When I was racing karts as a teenager, there were about four other girls doing it. None of them went on to make a career with cars.

“Girls represent about 1 per cent of young racers in the UK, so by the time the triangle tops out with the 22 Formula One drivers in the world, the statistics speak for themselves.” Madelin agrees that childhood experiences are more important than a “vroom gene” -- if there is one.

“The more women are doing it, the more little girls will see it's perfectly OK to be interested in vehicles.” As in medicine and other professions, the barriers will fall. But it will take a while. And until then there will always be a need for a Women's World Car of the Year.