Julia Moore is a lecturer in law, and project manager for a variety of educational projects both in the UK and Europe. Dividing her work and living between the UK and France, she frequently advises start-up organisations in the not-for-profit sector, and produces educational material for a range of establishments. She is currently developing e-learning resources for the international education market.

Beautiful Bodywork; One lady owner……



Cars, and female connections to them, has a chequered past. Blurb from the Austin 7 catalogue (circa.1930s), extols its virtues for the 'modern' housewife - small and easy to park- sounds familiar. The analogy with the body beautiful and car design is too easy - the very language of the automotive sector is strewn with gender metaphor, 'she' for general reference, used not only for automotive products, but many others (ships, trains).

Such objectification is usually pejorative and one would expect that, as a consequence, women were excluded from the car sector.   Wrong. Published works tell us they had been active participants in racing driving from end of 19th Century to 1970s - continuing today in some sections (rally/cross). Local Cote d'Azur girl-made-good Hellé Nice (real name, Heléne Delangle), stands out as a remarkable. At a time when car design allowed average-build women to control high performance vehicles, several women (Delangle the finest example of the 1930's/40's) used their social positions, vivacious personalities and often personal wealth to secure their places in automotive history.  There was, alas, often a heavy price to pay- the flip-side of playing with the lads- social isolation, disapproval from one's own sex and, ultimately, death in poverty.

Today's female role as consumer is unashamedly courted for sales by the car industry. Nearing 50% of the buying market in the US, leading car manufacturers have promoted 'lady' engineers to provide the edge over market competitors as they aggressively target the female consumer -  listening  to (not ridiculing)  those features which female drivers consider important to them:  safety, economy, storage, handling, bijou design.

The word 'drivers' is used here distinct from the word 'owner' or 'buyer'. In the month which sees the two major annual events in the 06 region - Cannes Film Festival and the F1 Grand Prix, it is easy to combine the metaphor and see the car as today's mega-gadget. The car both reflects our personality as we would like others to see it and can be used as an over-sized handbag, portable office,or just our own personal 'fun-space' -  crammed full of gizmology.  Yet most female drivers default to pragmatic needs-based purchasing. Acquiring collectors cars (classic or contemporary) is rarely a female pursuit, but purchasing them is a different matter- apart from property, the  car is the next best item to shop for, providing all the feminine clichés - colour, comfort, features, which come top of the list at the point of sale, the sensible, scientific aspects having been taken into account.

We have, literally, travelled a long distance from the days of those early speed 'Queens' who looked fabulous in their leather driving caps and boiler suits. Why shouldn't the car be a fashion accessory like anything else? Mr Ford and Mr Austin never meant to create a creature to be preserved in aspic and kept in a museum- it was the 'must have' consumer perishable of the post-war era and so it remains today.

Male and female drivers may relate in different ways to their cars, but this difference may, after all, be marginal. It is therefore appropriate to end with a quote attributed to Ettore Bugatti -  who shows more than a little insight into the workings of a woman's mind -  when he said (referring to cars, of course)…'nothing is too beautiful, or too expensive'….