‘What on Earth are They Doing in a Racing Car?’: Towards an Understanding of Women in Motorsport

Abstract

Motorsport is an under-researched area of socio-historical study. There is particularly limited academic understanding of female involvement in the social world of motorsports. Therefore, this article focuses on the role of the media in presenting and establishing motorsport for women. In particular, a documentary analysis of articles published by a UK national newspaper group from 1890, and a case study of an all-female UK-based motorracing championship are used to account for gendered processes that have influenced attitudes and behaviours toward women motor racers. The motor car emerged through technological progress in an overtly masculine-dominated industrial period. Traditional assumptions and biologically-deterministic attitudes toward women were used by men to position motoring and motor-racing as a male preserve. Newspaper reporting throughout the 1930s suggests an era of heightened success for women motor racers as a result of gaining access to a key resource in the form of Brooklands motor-racing circuit. Following the Second World War, there was increasing commercialisation and professionalisation of maledominated motorsport, as well as renewed marginalisation and trivialisation of female participants within the newspapers. These processes continue to influence perceptions of women in contemporary motorsport.

Hitting the barriers – Women in Formula 1 and W series racing

“…This shows that although some attitudes towards women drivers have relaxed, nonsensical beliefs remain and cause problematic attitudes today (a recent example being former F1 driver David Coulthard claiming that women are not capable of winning F1 due to the 'mothering gene'; Houston, 2017;NESN, 2017). It has been argued that women in F1 and other motorsports are 'often highly hetero-sexualised' and continue to negotiate their dual identities as women and athletes -I will expand upon this later in the section 'Sexualisation' (Matthews andPike, 2016: 1545). Pflugfelder (2009: 412) writes that women's inferiority in motorsport is not manifested in the physical conditions of the sport, rather it is the 'discourse' of the sport.…”

“…Historical attitudes which excluded and prohibited female athletes from sport are not only based on ‘medical misinformation’ of the female body (Lenskyj, 1992: 145) but are strongly tied to the act of ‘gatekeeping’, and F1 − like most other sports which were made ‘by and for’ men (Dworkin and Messner, 2002: 17) – is historically rooted in such practices. Motorsports in Britain were originally organised by ‘elitist’ and ‘exclusive’ gentlemen’s clubs ‘who worked to limit women’s participation’ (Matthews and Pike, 2016: 1535), and is likely related to the dominance of men in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) studies. Nonetheless, F1 has never officially prohibited female drivers from competing, with the first female F1 driver Maria Teresa de Filippis competing at the Belgian Grand Prix in 1958.…”

“…Danica Patrick is often cited as one of the most successful female race car drivers in recent history (Matthews and Pike, 2016: 1545; Goulding, 2021; Norris, 2021; Taranto, 2021). She has also been referred to as a ‘perhaps the most hypersexualized female athlete of the current era’ (Fink, 2012: 51).…”

“…To demonstrate marketability, it may be suggested that an affirmative action or equity approach is required, however, this causes concern surrounding athlete credibility. Matthews and Pike (2016) found that their participants believed ‘a woman participating in the “pinnacle” of motor-racing, F1, would help challenge societal assumptions regarding women motor-racing drivers’ (p. 1546). If a team were required to have a woman on their team, she could provide inspiration for the next generation of women race car drivers and increasing viewership, breaking the never-ending cycle of women’s representation and (in)visibility.…”

“…At present, there have been fewer than 10 female drivers in Formula 1 since its inception. Matthews and Pike (2016) write that 'despite claiming to be a gender-equal sport, motorsport appears to share characteristics of many sports in that it is inherently gendered in favour of male involvement and control ' (p. 1534). They also point an article in The Times, which states that 'One thing is certain: women are for decorating Formula One and not for taking part in it' (Eason, 2003).…”