Women and motor racing: the clues are also our no comments on this note

El rol que ocuparon las mujeres durante la historia del automovilismo fue el disparador para analizar el deporte desde una perspectiva feminista. ¿Cuáles son los prejuicios que hoy persisten? ¿Qué estereotipos se construyeron alrededor de las identidades feminizadas al volante? ¿Y en torno a las promotoras y a la sexualización de sus cuerpos? Lo cierto es que hay corredoras que pusieron quinta en la ruta de las desigualdades para demostrar que las pistas no sólo son espacios de varones.

"They simply told me that I was still on the podium and that is what I did," was the response of the young woman who accompanied the multi -champion, Lewis Hamilton, who, a few years ago, decided to celebrate one of his victoriesdirecting the champagne liquid directly to the promoter's face.

The image is clear.The three fastest runners of the race, who feel the world at their feet for a moment, with the English champion as the center of the show, who celebrates his conquest wrapped in the foam, in the screams and in the applause of fans.A moment of ecstasy in which the winner is the protagonist, and the woman, only part of the decoration.This classic scene is repeated in the motor world, anywhere in the world and in each competition for decades, with a variety of main actors, but with something in common and that leads to the inevitable question: what role did women occupy duringThe history of motor racing?

Thinking the fierrero world from a feminist perspective implies seeing beyond sport.Exit the track and analyze how the cultural is going through, in multiple senses, one of the most popular and traditional disciplines in Argentina, along with football and boxing.

“Las mujeres no saben manejar”

Break the prejudices and knock down cultural barriers.One of the most common arguments that are used to avoid gender parity is the physical capacity of one and the other, based on one of the most entrenched gender stereotypes in Argentine culture, according to which the female population is more clumsy.In cars, this is no longer a valid reason, but the capacity and talent at the wheel.

Ianina Zanazzi was the first broker to win a race in the country, in Río Cuarto, in 1999.In an interview with Mundo D, he said: “They say that motoring is a macho sport, but when they give the possibility to a woman to compete equally.It is one of the few sports where we can measure ourselves in the same category ".In addition, he added that one of the aspects to work is how to incorporate more girls to join the sport."It needs companies to support us.We have to facilitate the first step, then it will depend on the conditions, claw and passion that each one puts, ”said Zannazi.

Unlike other sports in which female branches grow at their own pace, in the world of cars, trucks, motorcycles and kartings the situation presents differences.It is a mixed sport and yet it remains associated with man.Among the great pilots of world motor racing, with the great Juan Manuel Fangio as national idol, the names that arise are all male because there are few "pilots" who managed to reach the elite tracks.Throughout the history of Formula 1, only five women competed.

Nadia Cuneto was the first Argentine rally champion in 2017.He started as his father's navigator until he took the steering wheel to start his own way.In dialogue with feminacida, he considers that "today the woman occupies a very small place, but important, in the discipline"."We still have it to belong to the most important categories on the track because it is difficult for them to support the broker trusting their development and skills," he says.

The entrerriana athlete says that inequality persists, although there are no reasons to sustain her.The pilots charge less and promote them less.They are more observed and criticized.And it is not the same if a woman or man has an accident, everything is still measured with different rod.

@kf I have no idea of how to get into oppes/infra stuff.Even My College Program were Split Between People Who Wante ... https: // t.CO/ZQDA0ZH5EA

— alex Fri Jun 25 05:26:07 +0000 2021

“Andá a lavar los platos”

It is not necessary to be a professional pilot to know this typical street phrase.Blessed the driver who has not heard it while driving for her people or city."Go wash the dishes" it was used as a reminder that women belonged to the domestic sphere, to their home and, precisely, to the kitchen.For them, private space.For them, the public space.

While in the western world women manage since the end of the 19th century, in some parts of the world, they were forbidden to do so until just a few years ago.Only in 2018, the citizens of Saudi Arabia, over 21, obtained the right to get the license to drive and thus end up depending on a male of their family to move freely.

In this sense, of course, a masculinity associated with the car and vehicles in general is put into play, which represent pleasure by force, risk, adrenaline and speed.And the passion for iron, fat and dust.

La mujer como objeto de exhibición

The Italian María Teresa de Filippis was the first woman to run in a Formula 1 Grand Prix, but in the 1958 France GP did not allow her to compete.The argument of the director of the tournament?: "The only helmet that a woman should wear is that of the hairdresser".

A few years ago, in a fierra chronicle in amphibia, they described the promoters present in the autodrome and deepened in the corporalities.“The woman's body is pure exhibition: naked backs, short dresses, pronounced necklines, miniskirts, platform boots, makeup and advertising hair.The pilot's body is metallic: his car and his uniform as a representation or prolongation of his car, the same advertising prints in each case.And a face and the big toe of his hand unfailingly raised before each photo as the only manifestations of the skin ”.

Not only are pilots part of the automotive world.In a context of overrepresentation of men, they are also they, the young women hired to attract the looks of the fans.As well as before it happened with the almanacs and posters of semi -naked models in mechanical workshops: women as an object of desire.

The promoters are part of the "decorated" of competencies.An activity that, sometimes, runs the limits of the legal, as in the case of 50 young people who were threatened to exercise prostitution within the framework of competencies of road tourism and national tourism, among other categories, which recently rose toFederal prosecutor Franco Picardi.

Mujeres fierreras

The times they Are a changing.And motoring refutes the famous phrase that some nostalgicxs maintain: not all past time was better.And Fierreras women can give a chair on the subject.Put first and step on the accelerator, thoroughly and at full speed.

Agustina Mattio is a Argentine runner and was part of Vitarti Girls Team, the first full team of Argentine motor racing that debuted in the Top Race Junior, for 2021.“I started running at Karting at 9 years and there were not so many girls, I was the only one.In recent years, more women began to be seen in different roles, not only as pilots, ”he says exclusively for feminacida.

The specialized media "Fierreras Women", interviewed for this note, says that there is progress in the number of women competing.Worldwide, the role of the FIA Women In Motorsport with the creation of the W Series in 2019 (which is only for women), included as Formula 1 this year and with initiatives such as the Girls On Track-Rising programStars together with the Ferrari Academy."Little by little, barriers are broken that were unbreakable a few years ago, not only in terms of pilots, but also in the multiplication of engineers, mechanical, directives," they conclude.

According to "Fierreras Women", in Argentina, Karting is where more women compete, being more than 300 kartists.While in national motor racing in general it is where there is less female presence.With the exception of Top Race, in the rest of the categories there is no woman participating.

Autos rosas

"Sometimes they use us as a marketing source to say they are inclusive," says Nadia Cuneto, who also explains that getting sponsors is a more rough path for women."Without an economic back it is very difficult to arrive.And there is still a machismo that does not allow us to achieve our goals.Once I went to a meeting with a sponsors and after asking myself about the car and the engine, they gave me a set of gift underwear to go, ”he says.

Worldwide, the motor racing industry knows that it is not considered the most inclusive and, therefore, tried to combat that impression by creating commissions and diversity programs.However, there are situations that reinforce perceptions and stereotypes.

Heinricher Racing is the team of the broker and the only owner of the circuit, Jackie Heinricher, who sought to get a place in the 24 hours of Le Mans, one of the most prestigious events in the world.His request was rejected because there could only be a team of women, no more.Kessel Racing resulted in the chosen team and was transformed into an example of equality.An article on the Le Mans website entitled: "Kessel Racing demonstrates that motoring is not just for men".Ask Heinricher if he thinks the same.