W Series, the new championship targeted exclusively at female racing drivers, has confirmed an initial list of 55 drivers it says are eligible for its first season of racing.
The series received over 100 applications for the 18 places in the championship. The 55 chosen drivers will under three days of testing including assessments of their driver and fitness. Former F1 drivers David Coulthard and Alexander Wurz and former McLaren racing director Dave Ryan are among those who will be involved in the judging process.W Series CEO Catherine Bond Muir said they are “thrilled but perhaps not surprised by the response.
“Even today there is a massive gender imbalance in motorsport and W Series is making the first step to correct that. Drivers from all over the world have stepped forward, so it’s clear that with the right framework we can make the changes this sport desperately needs.”
The list features drivers from 26 different countries. W Series will race at six European tracks next year but has attracted the most eligible entries from America, which has eight names on the list. The organisers plan to expand into Asia, America and Australia in future seasons.
W Series approved driver list
| Name | Country | Age |
|---|---|---|
| Chelsea Angelo | Australia | 22 |
| Charlotte Poynting | Australia | 20 |
| Caitlin Wood | Australia | 21 |
| Sarah Bovy | Belgium | 29 |
| Naomi Schiff | Belgium | 24 |
| Bruna Tomasell | Brazil | 21 |
| Megan Gilkes | Canada | 17 |
| Taegen Poles | Canada | 20 |
| Grace Gui | China | 27 |
| Veronika Cicha | Czech Republic | 31 |
| Michelle Gatting | Denmark | 24 |
| Emma Kimilainen | Finland | 29 |
| Milla Mäkelä | Finland | 25 |
| Angelique Germann | Germany | 27 |
| Michelle Halder | Germany | 19 |
| Marylin Niederhauser | Germany | 22 |
| Carrie Schriener | Germany | 20 |
| Doreen Seidel | Germany | 33 |
| Vivien Keszthelyi | Hungary | 17 |
| Mira Erda | India | 18 |
| Sneha Sharma | India | 28 |
| Carlotta Fedeli | Italy | 26 |
| Vicky Piria | Italy | 24 |
| Miki Koyama | Japan | 21 |
| Fabienne Wohlwend | Lichenstein | 21 |
| Siti Shahkirah | Malaysia | 24 |
| Stephane Kox | Netherland | 24 |
| Milou Mets | Netherlands | 28 |
| Shirley Van Der Lof | Netherlands | 31 |
| Beitske Visser | Netherlands | 23 |
| Ayla Agren | Norway | 25 |
| Natalia Kowalska | Poland | 28 |
| Alexandra Marinescu | Romania | 18 |
| Ivana Cetinich | South Africa | 22 |
| Fabienne Lanz | South Africa | 32 |
| Tasmin Pepper | South Africa | 28 |
| Carmen Boix | Spain | 23 |
| Marta Garcia | Spain | 18 |
| Carmen Jorda | Spain | 30 |
| Sharon Scolari | Switzerland | 23 |
| Amna Al Qubaisi | UAE | 18 |
| Jamie Chadwick | UK | 20 |
| Esmee Hawkey | UK | 20 |
| Jessica Hawkins | UK | 23 |
| Sarah Moore | UK | 25 |
| Alice Powell | UK | 25 |
| Toni Breidinger | USA | 19 |
| Sabre Cook | USA | 24 |
| Courtney Crone | USA | 17 |
| Natalie Decker | USA | 21 |
| Cassie Gannis | USA | 27 |
| Shea Holbrook | USA | 28 |
| Sheena Monk | USA | 29 |
| Hanna Zellers | USA | 21 |
| Samin Gomez | Venezuela | 26 |
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tonyyeb (@tonyyeb)
28th November 2018, 10:57
But isn’t the issue with this that there is no male benchmark to compare against to show to the people that matter for getting a drive in a top series (sponsors, team owners etc) that women can be just as good (if not better)?
Oople
28th November 2018, 20:22
They should race against Coulthard!
kris
29th November 2018, 0:22
The stig will set the benchmark, that applies to all genders.
Garns (@)
30th November 2018, 14:58
DC would actually be a great benchmark. Past his time in F1 but drove so many since the guy is still fast.
Charlie
28th November 2018, 10:59
Has it ever crossed their mind that maybe most women just don’t want to be racing drivers?
Even having one female driver in F1 is probably a more than generous representation of the ratio.
I don’t hear calls for more men to play netball!
If a woman driver is good enough, she’ll have plenty of opportunities due to more media exposure and potential sponsorship funding from female directed business.
Creating gender only categories in sport is actually a big step backwards.
SM
28th November 2018, 13:35
Agree with this
SM
28th November 2018, 13:40
Damn no edit button…
Agree with this. Where are the calls for more men to get into dance, ballet, textiles and sewing, childcare, knitting, crochet, cheerleading and if we want to include sports as the op said, netball?
Everyone knows that men on a general basis don’t like or want to do those things.
So why can’t it be the same for women?
Dave
28th November 2018, 14:33
Men and boys don’t like to do those things because they are raised with a distorted view, and it doesn’t take much googling to determine that there are initiatives to get more males involved in most of those things that you cite.
Dance
Ballet
Childcare
Rather than accepting the outdated concepts that you were indoctrinated in by your own upbringing, you should try an attempt at independent thought as this is what has brought as where we are today in most of the Western world (albeit with plenty still to go, but better than a generation ago). You only don’t want to play netball because you’ve been brought up being told it’s a girls’ sport. In an alternative upbringing if you’d been told netball was for boys and football was for girls you’d be telling us all that everyone knows men don’t want to play football.
For those who criticise W Series – why not give it a chance. 100 women applied, presumably they are racers who would relish the challenge of this series and hopefully there will be a reasonable number of spectators/supporters of the series. Maybe it will fail, but I don’t see the problem with giving it a go with a view to providing increased exposure and inspiration to young girls, and eroding the ongoing stereotypes such as those by the post above. I don’t see this being a barrier to women making it into F1 (one single-gender series doesn’t change the whole pyramid of the sport) so if someone is willing to put up the funding to put this together I say give it a chance before you are too critical of it.
Steven Robertson (@emu55)
29th November 2018, 0:08
This is my comment of the year
BasCB (@bascb)
29th November 2018, 19:38
Thanks for putting in the effort with this comment Dave!
Shimks (@shimks)
30th November 2018, 11:27
Well said, Dave. Absolutely brilliant comment!
RP (@slotopen)
29th November 2018, 20:32
I didn’t want to cheerlead either, but one of my friends joined the squad. It was comical when people tried to make fun of him, because he was so clearly happy with his choice he couldn’t even get mad. Clever fellow.
maiagus
28th November 2018, 18:45
The accident last week in Macau makes wonder why even boys want to be drviers.
adiai
28th November 2018, 19:33
Agree with this, to have woman driver just for the sake of it defeats the whole purpose of gender equality, if a person is a good driver (man or a woman), they should be able to make it on their own merits….
Jeanrien (@jeanrien)
28th November 2018, 11:00
Still mixed about this. Surely it can provide exposure for women in motorsport and create a motivation at the early stage for some of them.
The winning prize should be something like an entry for F3 or F2 the following season (depending of the level of this serie and I hope they will do it for the second year after evaluation of the field during the first. They need the winning driver to be more or less competitive the next year in a mix serie).
There are definitely other ways to promote women in motorsport but this one has the merit to exist…
Jeanrien (@jeanrien)
28th November 2018, 11:01
Note: list of women selected below at end of comments section.
Ben Needham (@ben-n)
28th November 2018, 11:12
I was skeptical when it was first announced, but over time I’m beginning to see some merit in it. Let’s get more women involved in racing cars. Once this happens, we can start to compare them to the men with some kind of progression, or scholarship that (e.g:) pays for a season in Formula 2 for the champion. The very best will quickly rise to the top if they are deserving of it.
Big Joe
28th November 2018, 22:44
@ben-n
It’s just an attempt to extract more money from another market. Realisticly only a miniscule amount of young girls are going to grab an opportunity given to them by their fathers (the way most racing drivers get into it)
Think about Alonso’s sister.
Aleš Norský (@gpfacts)
28th November 2018, 11:14
I don’t see Tatiana Calderón and Sophia Flörsch on the list…quite possibly two most talented ladies of the bunch.
Marciare_o_Marcire (@marciare-o-marcire)
28th November 2018, 11:27
probably because they prefer to compete with men.
FlyingLobster27
28th November 2018, 11:31
@gpfacts I believe the W Series is supposed to be positioned below F3, a stage that Flörsch and Calderon have already reached, so, if they see the W Series as an unnecessary step backwards, they probably didn’t apply.
Jackal
28th November 2018, 20:00
Tatiana Calderon?
24 races in Star Mazda – 0 wins 0 poles 0 fastest laps
136 race in F3 – 0 wins 0 poles 0 fastest laps
51 races in GP3 – 0 wins 0 poles 0 fastest laps
Aleš Norský (@gpfacts)
28th November 2018, 23:53
Yet she has tested F1 and is about to test F2 for Charouz. I bet there is a reason for that…
Jackal
29th November 2018, 13:20
What male driver with her record in the junior formula would get an F1 test? One’s with a large supply of cash ….. and that is about it. SMH
Aapje (@aapje)
29th November 2018, 13:44
@gpfacts
Yes, discrimination in favor of women.
Ich Will
30th November 2018, 14:49
Riiiight. In a historically male dominated sport, renowned for cutting every corner to gain miniscule advantage, one of the most critical roles in the team is being filled by a woman under the auspice of Frédéric “It’s up to the track” Vasseur.
You think it’s more believable that Sauber have abandoned sitting on the fence and given up a better test driver in order to hire a woman rather than entertain the idea that she might actually be a very good test driver.
Sure thing buddy, added to the “tin foil” catagory.
Jere (@jerejj)
28th November 2018, 11:37
Even one former RB-backed driver is on the list.
Bart
28th November 2018, 21:16
Beitske Visser, one of the few to beat Max Verstappen in karting – in a rain race!
Once in formula cars she was midfield stuff with the occasional win. Karts and cars (tintops) suit her better.
AMG44 (@amg44)
28th November 2018, 11:39
If there is female tennis, female football, female cricket, female Olympic games, female MMA. Then i see no problem in having a female racing series. Its almost impossible for women to compete with men in sports.
bosyber (@bosyber)
28th November 2018, 12:48
Did you miss yesterday’s round-up @amg44, with the interesting interview with Ana Carrasco, the latest World Supersport 300 champion motorcycle racer (and female)?
Let’s be honest: most of us cannot compete with top-athletes male or female in their chosen field, whatever it is; they are, almost by definition, extraordinary in the talent and effort they put in to compete. Compared to that, gender isn’t the one special thing, especially not in motorsport where a lot of the physical capabilities, even if some of the defaults are influenced by the body’s gender, are negated by the overpowering need to get the best out of the equipment.
mrfill
28th November 2018, 13:23
Michel Mouton certainly didn’t have any problem in rallying….
aznfarmboi
29th November 2018, 0:26
@bosyber – moving the goalposts to suit your argument
@mrfill – sharpshooting
I’m not discrediting their achievements. But, both of your arguments are fallacious.
swh1386 (@swh1386)
28th November 2018, 13:00
Three middle aged white MEN judging the performance of women in a women’s own series.
Says everything you need to know about gender / racial / class equality in motorsport
Matt
28th November 2018, 13:21
It tells me that yiu are a sexist, racist who judges and treats people according to the colour of their skin while skipping past the arbritary and unimportant race of the current 5 times wdc.
White men indeed. You should be ashamed of yourself.
swh1386 (@swh1386)
28th November 2018, 21:49
As a middle aged white man myself, I gotta say, you missed my point entirely! As a lifelong motorsport fan I have to say I am truly dismayed at the lack of equality / diversity in the sport I love (with one very successful exception to the rule!) Please think very carefully before you leapt to insulting conclusions!
Aapje (@aapje)
29th November 2018, 13:42
@swh1386
Women could set up a women’s racing series completely from scratch, outside of FIA, with only women in charge, funding it, etc. Nobody is stopping them from doing this.
Yet they don’t and instead we have this initiative which seeks to benefit from funds and expertise of male-dominated organizations. Then you can’t complain when men are involved.
You, like most of your ilk, are demanding something very unreasonable, which is that men must pay and help, yet don’t get any say in how their money is spent or how they get to provide their expertise.
swh1386 (@swh1386)
29th November 2018, 14:14
I am demanding noting of the sort! All I’m asking is that everyone is treat equally!
Aapje (@aapje)
30th November 2018, 12:13
@swh1386
You are complaining about men judging female racers, but did you ever complain about Claire Williams judging male racers?
You may think that you are in favor of equality, but in reality you have adopted a highly sexist and unequal mindset, where you judge men and women differently. It’s hard to blame you for this, because this kind of sexism is normalized in the media and in our general culture.
Matt
30th November 2018, 21:24
Swh136, the pathway to hell is paved with good intentions.
Take another look at what you are saying. What you are saying is racist and this whole debacle of a womans omly series is discrimination against men in a sport where both genders (there are only 2) are able and allowed to compete against each other.
You want a wider range of skin colours on the grid? Why? What does it matter and when will you be satisfied? 2 of each? Its hardly suprising that drivers tend to come from european, north america and asia since that is where racing is popular.
If you had a devent racing series in africa then there would be more black drivers. Nobody said f1 was a multicultural eutopia and few want it to be.
Im sick of people like you thinking nothing is fair and that white rich people are to blame for everything. Own your own problems and find solutions, nobody is trying to stop you.
maiagus
28th November 2018, 18:59
Chronometers are typically racist and misogynistic.
Big Joe
28th November 2018, 22:23
@swh1386
Who is the money coming from? Young, female, persons of color?
Women’s series are great, but let them be funded from their female audience for true equality.
ColdFly (@)
28th November 2018, 13:04
This could make a great reality TV programme.
“The world’s next female top racer”
Blind auditions; survival on some tropical island; photo shoots in exciting places; some dangerous dare; and of course the bikini pageant show.
matt
28th November 2018, 13:14
“W Series names 55 eligible drivers as it aims to address “massive gender imbalance”
What, by creating a mono gendered series that excludes men based soley on their gender (not strictly legal).
At least f1 is open to all, regardless of gender, this series is the very definition of a sexist culture.
Adam
28th November 2018, 13:49
Matt, Can I ask whether this is your opinion of just Motor Racing or whether you hold the same opinion of other sports too?
E.g Separate Men’s & Women’s Divisions in Football (Soccer), Tennis, Golf, Rugby, Cricket… in fact… ALL Olympic Sports.
To your point, does this mean you think ALL sports should be mixed and not separated by sex?
This is, by no means, an argument of your point. Sexism in any form is wrong. I would just like to know if your point is widespread and not solely aimed at Motor Sport.
@HoHum (@hohum)
28th November 2018, 21:34
Adam, there are many sports where size and strength are advantageous, hence separate divisions for men and women or size and weight, but driving is not one of them. Should we also have gender division in darts, billiards, target shooting etc ? Where I a woman capable of scoring higher than men in sports I would hate to only be eligible to become the “Women’s Champion”.
kpcart
28th November 2018, 13:57
My partner is a strong feminist, and as a male I believe I am too. I’m not gonna bother reading any comments in what is a majority male comments section in this and most other motorsport websites, I will read commentary in female oriented websites about this news. But in this website, I will say I hope this womens series succeeds, that’s all pretty much basically. Equality has to start somewhere, and the oppressed are the ones that need have have focus put on them and not judged against the oppressor, women Are Not equal to men in societies mind, but they need opportunities to match men, for that I think this series is great. I will get negative comments from men on my viewpoint, but those men are the oppressors, and an oppressor sadly never realises they are the oppressor. We men have oppressed women for too long. I teach in schools, and I know lots of young girls that dream of performing well in proledominantly male fields, and it disgusts me to think that many commentators on this and other motorsport websites who are hating on this women’s racing series are probably dad’s of young girls that won’t ever get to achieve what they want, cos dad thinks women have their place, in his backward idealogy.
Dave
28th November 2018, 14:44
It’s not often I find myself in agreement with you kpcart, but I’ll give you this one.
I have a neice who is in a choir, her younger brother desperately wanted to join the choir but his dad would not allow it on the basis that the other boys at school would bully him. I also have a niece who wanted to play rugby but her mother would not allow it, she was forced to do ballet while her brother was made to play rugby. Those who tell us that girls prefer ballet and singing, boys prefer rugby and football (and motor racing) are simply carrying forward the prejudice they have learned. To me this type of behavior is simply reinforcing, encouraging and perpetuating gender differences from a young age.
Let the female racers taking part in W series, and those who choose to watch it, decide if it’s a good idea – and good luck to them. I personally dislike plenty of popular sports (football, cricket, rugby, golf) but I don’t have a problem with anyone who chooses to take part or watch them.
Aapje (@aapje)
28th November 2018, 20:20
I see both a boy and a girl being oppressed in your example (by people of their own gender), yet you agree that men oppress women.
This is the double standard in feminism. The exact same thing is called oppression when it happens to women and being the oppressor when it happens to men. This is why feminism = sexism and why we will never achieve gender equality through feminism. Feminists usually actually fight for women’s interests, rather than gender equality, favoring blatantly sexist policies that perpetuate gender inequality. For example, fighting against an equal chance to get custody for men, asking for lesser sentences for the same crime for women (even though scientific evidence from the US shows that discrimination in the justice system against men is worse than against black people), hiding scientific evidence about domestic violence and rape by female perpetrators against men, etc.
You are denying facts here. Perhaps you meant to claim that these preferences are not biological, but cultural, but denying that the preferences exist at all is blatant denial of facts.
Note that people’s desires heavily depend on socialization in general. I like liquorice in large part because I was raised Dutch and learned to appreciate the taste and others ‘pushed’ the candy on me. If I was raised in the US, I likely wouldn’t enjoy it.
That doesn’t make my current preference for liquorice fake, nor does it make an American who dislikes liquorice be in denial of his real preferences. Our preferences are now what they are and it would be oppressive to force me to abstain from eating liquorice and oppressive to force liquorice on an American who dislikes it. Freedom from oppression means allowing us to express our current preferences so we both can be happy, not to force fake ‘equality’ on people.
Equal opportunity is great, but when you get greater opportunity for women and less for men, you logically just produce resentment and negative stereotypes of women. After all, people will notice when women achieve things by favoritism and that men must work harder for the same result. So then they will judge a woman who achieves the same result as a man as not being as good.
Ich Will
30th November 2018, 14:59
It’s not a double standard – it’s the simple reality that sexism goes both ways, they are two sides of the same coin and effort to solve one helps solve the other. I agree that calling men “oppressors” – speaking as a single dad who was bullied by mothers for my gender – is overly simplistic in the greater scheme of things, but in the context of motor racing, it is probably an unhelpful, but accurate word to use.
I do disagree with your final paragraph though, I think a certain, usually very vocal type gets offended when a woman gets help to succeed in a male dominated world and vice versa, but the silent majority are aware that it’s important to give the less favoured person a better tailored pathway so long as the long term view is equality.
Steve
28th November 2018, 14:24
It’s a who’s who of who?
Maisch
28th November 2018, 14:47
Well written Kpcart!
bosyber (@bosyber)
28th November 2018, 14:52
While I am still not sure this series was the best way to do what the organisers say they want to do of addressing the unequal gender balance in motorsport, I agree @kpcart, that we should wish these athletes, and the series a lot of success.
Some of the names in the list I knew, others are unknown to me. I am looking forward to, through this series (might be lazyness from my side that I didn’t bother looking at more series before) see these women show their talents to the world and hope it can help build their chosen careers to great effect, and inspire future generations of drivers.
socksolid (@socksolid)
28th November 2018, 15:12
Pretty much all of the women who have been able to string together a full season at fia f3 have gotten to drive f1 car in one form or other. Despite all the drivers having really poor racing results. If there is gender imbalance then it is against men who want to get to f1. If you are a woman and have done a full season at the back of the grid of f3 you already have your f1 drive “earned”. If you are male you can win the whole thing on merit and get nothing out of it unless you have deep pockets or someone to give you lots of money.
I’ll bet my money on the fact that sophia flörsch will drive f1 car next year. So far her best result in f3 have been one 5th position whereas rest of her finishes are outside of top 10.She is 13th out of 16 in the junior championship and 22nd out of 26 in the main championship. Good enough for a woman. Then you have tatiana calderon. String of finishes way outside of top in all her efforts. Finishing 16th in gp3 was good enough for f1 because she is a woman.
In all of f3 and gp3 for the last 5 seasons only woman to not get an f1 drive as participation award is beitske visser. But her 15th spots in the 4 or so races were probably too good. Carmen jorda instead got the job under her nose with impressive string of 25th positions. But there are alice powell and vicky piria. No f1 drive after a full season of gp3 at the back of the grid. Surely that is a sure sign of sexism?! Not all women get f1 drives after all…
Higher percentage of the women backmarkers from gp3 and f3 get to do f1 than the males who won those championships. Do I need to say anything more?
Mark in Florida
28th November 2018, 17:11
@socksolid Please don’t allow common sense to enter the discussion. It will upset the happy emotions going on for the W series. Seriously I hear you. It’s amazing that if you are a woman and express an interest in something you get a pass on talent. There a lot of talented drivers who get bypassed simply for not having enough money to pay for a drive. We complain about them not getting a shot but then turn around and cheer for a whole group that’s getting a pass simply because they are of a certain gender.
Ludwig Michiel
28th November 2018, 15:22
I’ll place my bet on Jamie Chadwick winning the inaugural championship.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
28th November 2018, 18:26
I really hope so.
Also I can’t decide if I more want Carmen Jorda to fail to make the final 18; or if I want her to make it, then get shown up horrendously!
BasCB (@bascb)
29th November 2018, 19:46
Surely from that group of 55 Jorda is not amongst the 18 best @eurobrun. I even wonder how she got to make the top 55 already.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
29th November 2018, 22:45
@bascb
I completely agree, but she thinks she is!
I’d enjoy seing her get embarrassed on a bi-weekly basis, but not at the expense of someone who deserves an opportunity.
BasCB (@bascb)
30th November 2018, 11:37
Exactly that!
AmericanF1
28th November 2018, 18:42
To this I would say: “Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the WNBA.” The WNBA has been in existence now for 21 years. In that time, only four of the original eight teams are still around and none of the existing teams are profitable. The league has a whole posted a $12M loss in 2017 with games averaging only around 8,000 fans per game on a good day. By way of comparison, every one of the NBA’s 30 teams are currently valued at over $1B…each, and average attendance is over 17K fans per game. In 2008, WNBA games averaged just 413,000 television viewers, compared to 1.46 million viewers on ESPN and over 2.2 million on ABC for NBA games. In addition, WNBA games have much poorer visibility, attendance, and ratings than NCAA (college) games.
What I am saying here, and I expect to get crucified for it, is that the WNBA was created with similar goals in mind as the W-Series and with a similar market demand. Thus far, not a single woman has performed well enough for an NBA team to sign them to their roster. In that aspect, I would say F1 is many times more “inclusive” than the NBA in that many women have been hired by F1 teams as test and reserve drivers.
I am very much not against women in F1, nor am I really against the W-Series, but if woman is a good enough driver, there is no reason she could not make it into F1 without making an unnecessary, and, I’m predicting, ultimately unprofitable women’s-only league . There are some great female drivers out there; take Christina Nielsen, two time IMSA GT Daytona class champion and Katherine Legge who finished 2nd in the IMSA GTD category this year as a ‘standalone’ driver, both competing on equal footing with some exceptional male drivers. It seems to me that creating a women’s-only league is being done to assuage unnecessary guilt and will have the effect of sequestering women in a non-competitive series which will only further limit their chances at a top drive.
Formula1 (@s2g-unit)
29th November 2018, 6:01
Let’s add on the fact that the WNBA is SUPPORTED completely by the NBA. Then females player complain that the men make too much money.
Aapje (@aapje)
29th November 2018, 13:29
It’s the same in society at large. Men earn more, in large part because the male gender role demands that men are providers, so men are more likely than women to prioritize income over other things (pleasant work, nice co-workers, non-monetary benefits, short commutes, shorter work hours, etc). Then these men, much more than women, transfer part of that income to their partner (while women more often make other sacrifices for their partner).
Yet the complaint is always about men earning more than women. The large wealth transfer from men to women doesn’t fit the narrative of men oppressing women and thus gets ignored.
Ich Will
30th November 2018, 15:16
Was the failure of the WNBA because it tried to compete at the high end of the sport? How would those womens teams stack up against teams in the PBL?
I think that’s why it’s a good move to set the Women’s series so low in the pyramid, they are trying to grab the talent early and feed them into the regular series with a good whack of expreience that they might struggle to get otherwise, and from there allow them to compete equally.
maiagus
28th November 2018, 18:57
Half a billion women in China, 1 aspirant in W series: it can only be racism.
Maybe a 1.5 billion in Asia, 5 women in WSeries: reinforcing white western women privilege.
MaliceCooper
28th November 2018, 19:43
Motorsports require much less musculature tham some sports. Some of the male drivers even look a tad scrawny. And I don’t buy the arguments about spacial awareness, coordination or killer instinct. I’ve met plenty of guys that couldn’t win at MarioKart never mind motorsport.
So if we consider that gender (like race, height, nationality, or family lineage) is a circumstance conferred at birth then we can look at them as “racers” first and whatever else is just background stuff.
Some people talk about it being a numbers game, not enough women taking part to see talent come through. But Lewis didn’t come from a big group of black competitors, and nothing was gifted to him, he just took his opportunities and made the most of them.
How many daughters are taught “that’s only for boys” or sons that have to hide ambitions from societal judgement?
Perhaps one day we will stop talking about “regular drivers vs female competitors” and can instead call them all simply “racers”.
Aapje (@aapje)
28th November 2018, 20:38
The average performance of men and women is irrelevant when looking at top performers. No average man or woman is going to be a top athlete.
There is evidence that men are more likely to be outliers than women, both at the top and the bottom. For example, in IQ tests, the people with the highest and lowest IQs are far more often men. A possible reason is that women have two XX chromosomes, moderating any genetic issues, because any outlier in one X chromosome may be offset by a more average gene in the other chromosome. In contrast, there is no such moderation in men. For better or worse they get whatever their one X chromosome encodes.
This may (partially) explain both why top performers are most often men, but also why the homeless and mentally ill are more often men.
Formula1 (@s2g-unit)
29th November 2018, 6:03
@aapje
Be careful, you might be called a misogynist for pointing that out.
All the women fighting for equality of prison sentences? Same feminists fighting for the homeless (majority being men)? What about workplace deaths or the hard, dirty jobs? They’re fighting for those as well?
MaliceCooper
29th November 2018, 12:25
Science has proven that men are better racers due to their “gender balance”. It turns out that having more “downstairs” creates a lower centre of gravity, hence better balance and more speed through corners. It’s indisputable facts.
BasCB (@bascb)
29th November 2018, 19:50
Well, well “malice cooper” please give us some insight in the science that proves that point. Or is my sarcasm filter just failing again?
BIg Joe
28th November 2018, 22:27
True equality would mean the funds for the series come from the female audience, and female led businesses as sponsors. But we all know that would just about fund lawnmower engined lesuire karts.
People yapping about whites and old males, take note.
Big joe
28th November 2018, 22:34
How many females buy Playstation 4s or Gaming PCs to play racing games? What with gender inequality so rampant, I’m guessing young girls are refused a purchase or kicked off servers?
Very easy and dirt cheap to set up a female only gaming server as an experiment and to gauge interest. My guess is the interest would be miniscule.
Formula1 (@s2g-unit)
29th November 2018, 6:05
You didn’t know that gamestop and steam only sell female appropriate social construct games? If they were truly free to choose the online sim community would be very close to 50% women / 50% men.
aznfarmboi
29th November 2018, 0:29
>”…massive imbalance…”
>Excludes all women, except for 55 drivers (understandably, due to qualifications).
>Excludes all men.
>All three judges are men.
A foundation far from granitic.
JMDan (@danmar)
29th November 2018, 4:44
Women whining about gender inequality has become a huge tiresome hypocrisy. I wonder if I’ll live long enough to see women stop complaining about anything and everything because they have nothing more worthy to contribute. I’m not betting on it. I’m really fed up with the whole sham.
Formula1 (@s2g-unit)
29th November 2018, 6:07
@danmar Come on they aren’t hypocrites, they pay their fair share in the dating game & don’t expect to be “spoiled” like some tired sexist “old fashioned value”. They make sure men and women get similar prison sentences right???
Ted Mosby
29th November 2018, 18:12
The irony of the W series is beyond me.
We have seen plenty of female drivers in the lower categories, and if there is one thing they all had in common is the extra media attention they were receiving compared to the male drivers, regardless of performance, but just for being female..
As indicated @socksolid earlier, as a female driver being in the mid/back of the field of the junior formula categories seems to be enough to secure a F1 test already. With this, you could even argue that Motorsport is unfair to the disadvantage of males, but I’m sure if we go there some people will get rather upset, haha.
If women are equal to men (which of course is true), let them compete on equal grounds with men.
Ted Mosby (@tedmosby)
29th November 2018, 18:13
The irony of the W series is beyond me.
We have seen plenty of female drivers in the lower categories, and if there is one thing they all had in common is the extra media attention they were receiving compared to the male drivers, regardless of performance, but just for being female..
As indicated @socksolid earlier, as a female driver being in the mid/back of the field of the junior formula categories seems to be enough to secure a F1 test already. With this, you could even argue that Motorsport is unfair to the disadvantage of males, but I’m sure if we go there some people will get rather upset, haha.
If women are equal to men (which of course is true), let them compete on equal grounds with men.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
30th November 2018, 6:19
Marketing is a major point for this series. If they can get good corporate sponsors then there’s no reason it cannot succeed. Corporations sponsor Formula E, so I don’t see why they wouldn’t sponsor the W series as well.
Shimks (@shimks)
30th November 2018, 11:32
Motorsport lists the background of each driver.
https://www.motorsport.com/w-series/news/wseries-preliminary-driver-list/4305372/