"Women can't drive", declared my cousin with an air of superiority that belied his short frame. Such a sexist remark from a person who himself could not drive without getting nervous, came to me as a surprise and shock. I distinctly remember the last time when he drove me down to the market. I was almost sure that he would knock down somebody. Well, even today I thank my stars that nothing untoward had happened that day. My reaction, predictably, was that of anger. I wanted to know why he thought so. The reply that I got not just left me numb, but also gave me the taste of the general attitude of men towards the fairer sex, when it comes to driving. Yet, I am no feminist and I don't dismiss all of them as biased. With a smirk on his face, he said, "oh, they just don't know whether to go left or right. It seems cutting lanes is their prerogative. I'm sure women cannot differentiate between accelerator and brake."
I let out a mild protest, "but I drive too". "Yes, God save others", he chuckled. "Statistics show that in the number of road accidents that take place, more often than not, a man is behind the wheel. Road rage, drunk driving, over speeding, overtaking and simply for the thrill of speed has become the order of the day. How many women are caught for such reasons? I don't deny the stray incidents, when women are in the driver's seat, but the count is negligible", I said with indignation. "Oh, but how many women drive?", he asked in mock concern. Such talk was not only unwarranted but also bordered on being preposterous. It is a sheer waste of time to lose sleep over such a non issue. And anyway it is the thought of a minuscule population of the civilized society and not a general attitude, isn't it? Or is it?
A nagging thought just crossed my mind. Was my cousin's thought a representationt of a sizable number of the population? Yes I have seen people giving me angry looks, when I back my car or take a wide for a U-turn. I have also noticed that honking becomes incessant, even in a traffic jam, almost deriding my driving abilities. In fact the other day when I offered my friend a ride to the station, he politely refused, citing some silly excuse. But I insisted. On further probing, he let the cat out of the bag - he was not sure how competent a woman driver can be! Once I dropped him, he said with a guffaw, "I was worried whether I'll reach the station in one piece or not". Very funny, I thought. Well, such comments are just the work of a parochial mind, I consoled myself. Yet I found myself saying 'you are yet to come a long way, baby....'
I let out a mild protest, "but I drive too". "Yes, God save others", he chuckled. "Statistics show that in the number of road accidents that take place, more often than not, a man is behind the wheel. Road rage, drunk driving, over speeding, overtaking and simply for the thrill of speed has become the order of the day. How many women are caught for such reasons? I don't deny the stray incidents, when women are in the driver's seat, but the count is negligible", I said with indignation. "Oh, but how many women drive?", he asked in mock concern. Such talk was not only unwarranted but also bordered on being preposterous. It is a sheer waste of time to lose sleep over such a non issue. And anyway it is the thought of a minuscule population of the civilized society and not a general attitude, isn't it? Or is it?
A nagging thought just crossed my mind. Was my cousin's thought a representationt of a sizable number of the population? Yes I have seen people giving me angry looks, when I back my car or take a wide for a U-turn. I have also noticed that honking becomes incessant, even in a traffic jam, almost deriding my driving abilities. In fact the other day when I offered my friend a ride to the station, he politely refused, citing some silly excuse. But I insisted. On further probing, he let the cat out of the bag - he was not sure how competent a woman driver can be! Once I dropped him, he said with a guffaw, "I was worried whether I'll reach the station in one piece or not". Very funny, I thought. Well, such comments are just the work of a parochial mind, I consoled myself. Yet I found myself saying 'you are yet to come a long way, baby....'
The notion that women can't drive exists in the west as well (but is limited to certain demographics). Studies show that biologically women and men have unique characteristics that make them good or bad drivers(Source:"Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus"). Men seem to be great at driving straight, women seem to pay good attention to surrounding things/objects while driving straight ahead could be slightly problematic. As a result, more accidents for men on the sides while for women drivers it's on the front or back. But this generalization about women comes from the societal structure which slots women as bad drivers and great multi-taskers and men as good drivers but poor care-takers of their children. We know that neither of these are true. In nations where women have to drive to get their work done (for e.g. drop kids to school or buy grocery), this idea of women being poor drivers has no room to thrive. I would imagine that if you take away public transport(like rickshaws) in India then you would have to allow women to stop doing the household chores, given the fact that they can't drive? Sounds reasonable.
ReplyDeleteI dont think good or bad driving is about being a man or a woman......men get more opportunities to drive in our country, so they drive better - its as simple as that!
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