The Women Behind the Wheel

The world of the automotive industry is often thought of as a man’s one. A woman has not competed in a F1 Grand Prix since 1976, but this International Women’s Day we want to celebrate the women who have driven this industry to the cars we are all familiar with today. 

Today, according to the DVLA, women make up 48% of all motorists on our roads in the UK, however, the majority find that the industry is geared towards men. What some people might not know is that women have been involved since the beginning, pioneering the industry. So, strap in your seatbelts and take a look at our Top 5 women who have helped break into the spaces often reserved for men and the history of the women behind the wheel.

Bertha Benz 

Driving for 13 hours in the late summer of 1888 so she could visit her mother, Bertha became the first person in history to drive an automobile over a long distance. Unbeknownst to her husband Karl, Bertha set off on her journey with their two teenage sons. They covered over 60 miles of mostly unpaved roads before reaching their destination of Pforzheim, Germany. 

Bertha came from a wealthy family, and she was an investor into the development of the automobile. Without her help to fund her husband’s ventures, history could have been quite different. Before Bertha’s journey, Karl her husband had built and patented the first automobile powered by a gas engine. Karl was not receiving the good publicity that he thought he would. He struggled to market his invention as a means of personal transportation. This all changed once everyone had heard about Bertha’s trip.  

On that trip Bertha overcame challenges and showed her resourcefulness. Using her garter to repair the ignition and when the brakes made from wood failed, she asked a cobbler to install leather replacements. Her hat pin also helped unblock a fuel pipe, and to keep the engine from overheating they stopped many times to pour water over the engine to keep it cool. They refuelled at a local pharmacy in Wiesloch, Germany making it the first gas station which still stands today. 

Dr Gladys West 

How many of us would be able to find our way to a new place without the use of Google or Apple maps? Would you know how to read a paper map? Do you tag your favourite coffee shop on your Instagram posts? American mathematician, Dr Gladys West is renowned for her work of the development of the GPS. Her name is not as familiar as others who contributed but the part that she played holds just as much weight.  

Gladys obtained her master’s degree in mathematics in 1955. Growing up during segregation she knew that education would be her escape. Gladys worked as a mathematician collecting and analysing data of the earth from satellites and she created a detailed model of her findings. She became the second Black woman ever hired at the Naval Proving Ground in Virginia in 1956 where she was able to work on computer programming systems for the analysis of data from the satellites. Working through the ranks over the years she then became the project manager for Seasat radar altimetry. Seasat orbited the Earth for 105 days gaining an understanding of our oceans resulting in refined calculations for a model of the earth which became GPS. 

Gladys retired in 1998 at the age of 68 from her role at the Navel Proving Ground and she went back to education. At the age of 70, Gladys had earned her Ph.D. in public administration. It was not until 2018 that Gladys was formally recognised for her contribution to the development of the GPS. That same year she became a member of the Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame. 

The GPS first showed up in automotive history in 1990 introduced by Mazda and is now a staple part of our lives.  

Florence Lawrence 

Known as the world's first ever movie star, Florence Lawrence was also the first to invent mechanical vehicle indicators in the early 1900s. This invention has changed the world and safe driving and remains a prominent feature of driving to this day. 

Florence's successful career as an actress allowed her the ability to buy a vehicle when they first became widely available to the public. This purchase allowed her to become passionate about the automobile industry and inspired her to ponder on how they could be improved. Much like her mother she became an inventor for the industry with her ground-breaking design in 1915 for an arm on the cars fender that could rise or lower with the push of a button setting the intention to turn left or right. She developed this concept even further and designed another feature that could indicate the car was coming to a stop. The sign could be raised or lowered by pressing on the brake pedal. 

Florence never patented her designs and often does not receive credit for what was the first variation of a mechanical indicator. Improved versions of what she made were seen shortly after, but the idea struggled to take off. Many patented designs but were not successful in making it mainstream. In the National Museum of American History, it is Oscar J. Simler who's hand-built, patented prototype from 1929 that gets some of the credit towards the invention. 

Mary Anderson and Charlotte Bridgwood 

On a snowy day in New York, Mary Anderson’s inspiration sparked as she was riding in a car. Around her she seen that drivers struggled with visibility out of their windows often stopping wiping their windshields with their hands. She imagined what it would be like for them to not have to get out of their vehicles just to see what was ahead of them and so the world's first mechanical windshield wiper was born. 

Mary had applied for a patent and held the copyright of her design from 1903 until 1920. It was a rubber arm that could move back and forth that was controlled by a lever inside of the vehicle. The arm was also detachable, this meant that people had the option to remove it in the summer. Around that time the automotive industry was already a new concept for the public and was not widely available. Many companies did not see the commercial value in what she had created. For those 17 years she had tried to sell her idea, but it was not until 2 years after her copyright ended that it would become a standard feature for Cadillac. The concept was adapted for automotive use and many others created similar designs. One of those who did was a woman named Charlotte Bridgwood who so happened to be the mother of Florence Lawrence. Charlotte had adapted Mary’s concept and is also recognised for playing a part in the invention of the windshield wiper.  

Mary was never compensated for her invention, and it wasn't until 2011 that she would be inducted to the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Charlotte also never received credit or compensation for her work, but both women created something that ensures safety that we have used ever since as a standard safety feature in our vehicles.