If you go and buy any of the big, glossy car magazines (Evo, Car magazine, Top Gear) you won’t find a single road test written by a woman. Ditto websites like PistonHeads. A nameless (male) motoring editor friend of mine told me that none of these publications want women because they marginalise cars and that men don’t want to read a road test “written by a girl”.
That’s pure sexism, probably illegal and just ridiculous. Most male road testers have no more qualifications than owning a pair of bollocks. They aren’t racing drivers, most don’t even hold racing licences. They are just blokes. Some aren’t even that funny.
I know plenty of girls who have good chat, who can hustle a car round a track pretty damn quickly, and don’t have bad teeth.
The exceptions prove the rule. Erin Baker is head of motoring at the Telegraph, Vicky Butler Henderson does a fair bit, and there are one or two others. One or two. In a sea of thousands and thousands of men.
This needs to change. I’m just not sure how.
Where are the female motoring journalists?
04/02/2014 by Leave a Comment
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