For decades, women have been battling the stereotype that all women drivers are bad drivers. It doesn’t help that society seems to force this thinking into the
minds of kids and young women waiting to receive their driver’s license. Although yes, there are a considerable number of people out there who genuinely believe that gender has nothing to do with atrocious driving, and yes, yours truly included in this number,
the stereotype prevails.

It’s almost automatic. In most cases, when someone makes a sloppy U-turn or an illegal left turn, or even something simple and almost insignificant like parking a little close to another car, someone’s bound to point out that the driver must be a woman. Should the person end up wrong, the slight trespass becomes “forgivable”. Never mind that it was a middle-aged man or a young guy who was in the wrong, in the minds of some people, the driver might as well be a woman since “women are naturally bad drivers”.

This stereotype is not only damaging to a woman’s self esteem, it also affects her driving skill. Recent studies show that women exposed to such stereotypes have a bigger chance of actually acting like a “bad driver”. Women who believe themselves to be bad drivers have a higher risk of encountering accidents and having collision with other vehicles and even hapless pedestrians.

It doesn’t help that female celebrities are often featured in the news as having numerous driving mishaps and bad encounters with traffic enforcers—these incidents only serve to fuel the misconception that all female drivers are incapable of being good drivers.

This stereotype turns female drivers into some type of joke. It’s not uncommon for you to encounter entire websites these days dedicated to showcasing exactly how bad female drivers supposedly are.

Seeing as women’s month (the whole month of March) is about to end, I think it’s just the right time to remind women that the stereotype of the “woman bad driver” is just that—a stereotype and nothing more. As long as we don’t keep proving the stereotype correct then maybe there’s a chance that this stereotype will eventually be forgotten.

Stereotypes are hard to overcome, no doubt about that, but if you believe you’re a good and competent driver, then overcoming this stereotype shouldn’t be a problem. More and more women are also emerging as some of the finest racecar drivers in the world, which should make us all proud.

So while driving, mind the road and the rest of the drivers. Don’t add yourself to the list of the “worst female drivers” with your picture being posted in different blogs and websites. In short, don’t turn yourself into the living proof that women are indeed atrocious drivers. There are times where driving mistakes will be made, but don’t turn bad driving into a habit.