Stop calling us ‘woman driver’

CHINESE women have called for a stop to using the term “woman driver” as they celebrated International Women’s Day.

They deemed the term discriminating as it usually referred to bad and clumsy drivers.

“It’s time to stop stereotyping,” they demanded while saying there were men who could not drive properly as well.

Even so, 28% of women – who participated in a survey – agreed that female driving skills are generally poorer than male, and another 68% felt that driving skills have got nothing to do with gender.

More than 1,000 women responded to the recent poll, conducted by Qier research and survey platform.

On a scale of one to 10, 86% of them rated their driving skills at 5 and above, including 24% at 8. Only 18% of the respondents, mostly born in the 1990s, felt the term “woman driver” humiliating.

Almost half of the participants said they have been teased, badly treated or wrongly blamed for causing an accident due to their gender.

Qingdao traffic police became the punching bag.

On March 8, the cops posted an article on its official Sina Weibo account, listing nine dangerous habits of female drivers.

The bureau said there were an increasing number of women drivers on the road but some of them have bad habits such as not looking at the rear mirror, and wearing high heels and gloves that could possibly pose a threat to other road users.

Other behaviours which could distract their focus on the road or hinder quick reaction during an emergency included bringing pets, blocking the windscreens with toys or decorations and sitting too close to the steering wheel.

“Not only (did you not wish us on International Women’s Day), you discriminate us on this special day,” the netizens reacted angrily.

The bureau later clarified that the move was not meant to discriminate women but to remind them of good driving measures.

“The same content was released on other platforms before,” said a traffic cop in charge of the social media account.

Some netizens believed that the police had no bad intentions, but thought that the bureau was lacking in sensitivity for having uploaded the article on March 8.

“Even if the cops are merely reminding women of safe driving, it shouldn’t be on this day,” they said.

The post has since been removed.

Some men have come to the cops’ defence.

One of them wrote: “It’s not us who started it. The women themselves have to be blamed too.”

He said some women put up stickers with phrases like “Beware, lady driver” or “Female driver, please bear with me” at the back of their cars.

Among the 481 million licence holders for motor vehicles in China last year, 162 million or 33.68% were females.

Meanwhile, women have also demanded for gender equality in the workplace and in other areas.

Among the chief executive officers of public listed companies in China, only 6.4% were female, reported China Daily.

The figure may seem very low but it is higher than the average of 5.2% in developing countries.

A study carried out by Nankai University showed that companies with a higher proportion of women directors performed better financially.

Women’s empathy and communication skills help companies reduce conflict, reach consensus and improve corporate governance.

Today, women are slowly tapping into jobs that are traditionally dominated by men such as pilots, drivers, delivery riders and the uniformed units.

A 2020 report of Didi e-hailing platform showed that of its about 15 million drivers, some 2.37 million (16%) were female.

“More than half of them have over 10 years of driving experience. Nearly 60% of our women drivers can change tyres on their own and almost 30% are capable of repairing their cars,” the company added.

It pointed out some 66.1% of the women drivers love the flexibility of their jobs and 26.2% felt that it was great to be their own boss.

Shanghai Women’s Federation deputy president Huang Qi said women could be of great contribution to fields and industries traditionally dominated by men.

“The legal system in China supports females to do so and the status of women has been improving over the years,” she told the Global Times.

She added that more efforts could be done to achieve real equality between men and women.

“Strategies should be in place to roll out more support to women to fulfil their special needs at work and do more to awaken women who are still suffering from gender inequality,” she urged.

Chinese women account for more than 40% of the local workforce and more than half of the entrepreneurs in the Internet sector in China.

Over the years, China has witnessed the growth of women’s empowerment in all walks of life.

Gender equality may sound like a feminism conspiracy, but it is just women asking for respect.

Women should be given a chance to prove that they are capable and up for challenges.