Propelled by women

The contribution made by women to the success story of the car, in technological progress, in motor racing or just in the pure fun of driving, was simply ignored for decades. Indeed, it has only been acknowledged by a wider public in recent years. Yet without the support of women – without their money, their far-sightedness, their pragmatism, their stamina, their courage and their energy – many automotive developments would not have come about until much later on.

The car became famous with a woman at the wheel, and two other women helped to give it the impetus it needed. A remarkably large number of ladies have contributed to the success of the car with numerous practical inventions. Many of the components that we take for granted today, without which the car would not have become suitable for everyday use, were based on the ideas and technical expertise of women: the third gear, brake pads, heating, the windscreen wiper, the rear-view mirror, the indicator and the brake light, to name just a few. People are familiar worldwide with names such as Gottlieb Daimler, Carl Benz, Rudolf Diesel and Adam Opel. But hardly anyone can tell you who Margaret Wilcox, Mary Anderson, Dorothy Levitt, Florence Lawrence, Edith Flanigen or Stephanie Kwolek were.

Today, some 140 years after the invention of the car – formerly a male domain – women have conquered most of the areas that relate to it, i.e. technology, production and marketing, and have reached management level in a few individual cases.