43% of women drivers and 52.94% of men drivers receive feedback from their partners about their driving. For more than 90% of all respondents, a car opens the door to freedom and independence.
International Women Drivers’ Day, an initiative promoted by WWCOTY, celebrates the end of women’s driving bans around the world.
The Women’s World Car of the Year has conducted its first global survey to discover habits and emotions on board a car. According to data collected by WWCOTY on five continents, 43% of women receive instructions and comments from their partners when they are behind the wheel. The figure rises to 58% when Latin American female users respond, while it drops to 41.17% in countries such as Croatia and 28.57% in the Czech Republic. In the case of male drivers, the percentage is 52.94% globally, although they recognise that 86.27% of them are the ones who sit behind the wheel when it comes to family trips. The figure is near of 100% in Italy in this respect and drops to 42% in the UK and 25% in Germany.
Travelling with a partner in the passenger seat is a source of discomfort for 14.47% of women and 11.76% of men. By country, the figure for Spain stands out, where 21.4% of women surveyed feel insecure at the wheel when driving with their partner; in Belgium, the figure is 16.27%; in the United States, it is 15%; and in Portugal, it is 12.5%.
There is virtual unanimity around the world on the perception of freedom and independence that a car provides. This is the opinion of 92.16% of men and 94.89% of women in the global survey conducted by Women’s World Car of the Year.
For women drivers, a car means in most cases more than just a means of transport. It provides access to a world full of possibilities, experiences and personal development. This world was fully opened up on 24 June 2018 when the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia, the last country where it was not allowed, was lifted. Thus fell one of the great walls that still remained to be broken down in the automotive world. Women gained mobility, personal freedom and a passion for cars. They became more visible and made society aware of the potential of more than 50% of the population.
Today, women influence more than 80% of car purchases in advanced countries. This will continue or grow in the coming years because «the percentage of young women university students is increasing in developed areas. Wage parity is starting to become an achievable goal, Boards of Directors are no longer exclusively male and in the lists of the richest people in the world it is not unusual to see more and more women’s names», says Marta García, Executive President of WWCOTY. «A future of sustainable mobility and equality would not be possible without the contribution of women.