My Wife Wants A Word With You.

I was sitting outside my local pub in East London back in 2018 when I met my now husband for the second time. I turned when I heard the deep roll of an engine as a car pulled up next to the pub. I am certain to this day that I fell in love with the car before the man. It was a Land Rover Defender 90, in Corris Grey and in perfect condition (with the snorkel and everything). And so when this man, who I barely knew at this point, joined us for a drink, one of our very first conversations was about cars. Us women harbour a rather unfair stereotype when it comes to cars. I imagine men doing impressions of their wives rolling their eyes when they bring home a new car - which of course, some of them do. Including me with some of the suggestions my husband has had. So really, who can blame them? But just because we roll our eyes sometimes does not mean we hate cars. The stereotype is a myth.

Perhaps there just hasn’t been space for us women in the motor industry.
Cars came on the scene in the late 1800s, early 1900s. Back then women weren’t allowed into the world of engineering, they were raising the children or managing the household (or both). By the mid 1900s the marketing around cars was wildly male centric. Adverts for cars came with associations of power and danger. They were seen as symbols of freedom and virility for men.
Did you know that one of the very first women to drive long distance was in 1888? That was before women could even vote. Karl Benz’s wife Bertha was a visionary and when things weren’t looking good for her husband's invention she took matters into her own hands and drove the car 66 miles across Germany to prove the car’s reliability and publicize her husband’s invention. We could drive before we could vote.

Advertising may have always been targeted at men, but ultimately certain cars are actually just pretty. And though I’ll never really understand how they actually work (no matter how many times my husband tries to explain), I can appreciate the sheer feat of engineering excellence there. 
Did you know that in 2024, GT3 and GT‑Cup series saw a 44% boost in female drivers? Things are changing and women are feeling more confident now to take that step into the motoring world. Initiatives like the F1 Academy, Girls on Track, and More than Equal are begging to close the gap. Thanks to shows like Drive to Survive, 40% of Formula 1's global fanbase are women.
We are interested.

A few months ago I went to a track day with my husband and when we arrived I almost felt too nervous to get out of the car. I didn’t see a single other woman there. I wanted to be there, but as soon as I saw all these men huddled around their cars, I panicked. I worried they were thinking ‘I bet she doesn’t want to be here.’ Do they even want me here? But then I spotted another woman. And she was putting on a helmet and climbing into the driver seat. It got me out of the car. I watched her laps with a smile on my face. We are allowed to be there.

The Defender is still sitting in our garage. In fact, I learnt how to drive in that car. As a child I was handed down my brother’s big red box of cars. I would spend hours lining them up along the patterns in the rug, pretending it was a car park. I was also obsessed with my doll and wearing princess high heels - but I also had my cars. My brother used to find it infuriating when I would go onto GTA and sensibly drive a car I’d reluctantly stolen around Vice City. I would stop at red lights, spend hours finding big car parks to park in. And now I’m an adult, with my very own car, I’m still obsessed. No journey in my car ever bores me. Seriously. I will always be the first person to hold up my hand when someone asks, ‘who wants to drive?’

Maybe I have always loved cars simply because they were my first ever toy. But I think it’s more than that. I think cars are nostalgic, to everyone. We all grew up knowing someone somewhere who had a really cool car. I love that Defender because it reminds me of where I come from. Of British culture. I love the smell when I climb in it, even if it is always slightly damp, always so loud. And I love that I can drive it, even if the steering is heavy or the gear box is difficult. It’s like getting on a slightly temperamental horse - there is pride in being able to control it.

So maybe I like some cars because they make me feel powerful.
Or perhaps it’s just because they’re pretty.
Or maybe it’s because the cliche behind women and cars is changing and it’s given me more confidence to feel allowed to like cars.
Whatever the reason, if my husband ever sells that Defender, I will kill him.