May 23rd, 2011

Breaking: Leader of Saudi Arabian Protest Arrested

Manal al-Sharif, the woman who was organizing the “drive-in” protest against the driving ban for women in Saudi Arabia has been arrested. As we reported a few days ago, al-Sharif had begun a campaign called Women2Drive calling women to all come together and drive a car on June 17 in Saudi Arabia. Al-Sharif was arrested on Sunday and jailed for 5 days. She was charged with “spurring women to drive, on the Internet, and inciting public opinion.”

Women2Drive utilized the internet to gain momentum. Their Facebook account had gained over 11,000 likes as of yesterday and was recently deactivated reportedly by the authorities. Their Twitter account is seems too has been deactivated. However a new account Free Manal has just appeared.

Al-Sharif had posted a YouTube video two days ago which has also been removed. However, the video below of her driving and encouraging other women to drive still remains.

May 17th, 2011

Women in Saudi Arabia Will Stage a Drive-in to Protest the Driving Ban

On June 17 women across Saudi Arabia will get in their car and drive, which in that country is currently against the law. A group of women who call themselves Women2Drive launched the campaign to get women to take to the streets in protest. They are utilizing social media to spread their message which has reverberated around the globe. They have set up a Facebook event page, which has over 11,000 “attending”, and a Twitter account, which has nearly 4,000 followers.

We have written before about how women are driving in the desert communities in Saudi Arabia however driving is still forbidden in the cities.

Recently, Najla al-Hariri, who has a driver’s license from Egypt and Lebanon, decided to protest the driving ban in her country by driving her car over 4 straight days, during which she was never stopped by authorities. What was al-Hairi’s reason for protesting—her daughter.  “I don’t fear being arrested because I am setting an example that my daughter and her friends are proud of.” Al-Hairi who is a mother of five children says she has the support of her children, friends and her husband. She also told reporters she would be offering driving lessons for women.

We have been writing about the driving ban in Saudi Arabia since we began over a year ago. Saudi Arabia is the last country where women cannot drive. We predict that very shortly the driving will be lifted. While the current climate in the region will create a more favorable environment for equal rights we believe the main reason women will soon be able to drive legally is because of women. Women in Saudi Arabia have staged protest after protest. They have made their voices heard. They have demanded equal rights.

Women2Drive, we support you and stand with you on June 17. We look forward to the day when all women across the globe will be able to drive a car and ultimately drive their own lives. We believe that day will be soon.

May 10th, 2011

FIA Awards Young Female Karting Champ With Full Ride to Kart Competition

The Women & Motor Sport Commission and the Commission Internationale de Karting got together and organized a karting shootout for young women 15 and under. The winner was 15-year-old Lucile Cypriano from France. She was awarded a pretty nice trophy—a full ride to the 2011 CIK-FIA Karting Academy Trophy. The Trophy will take place in June and be comprised of 50 competitors each representing a different country.

Cypriano even received her award from FIA President Jean Todt. The head judge for the event, which took place in Geneva, was none other than racing legend and the head of the Women & Motor Sport Commission Michele Mouton.

Mouton had this to say about the winner: “Lucile displayed a high level of perseverance, agility and speed of reaction, as well as a great capacity for adaptation, concentration and stress management. She was also fastest on the track and we feel her potential for progression is considerable. The level of competition was high and we wish all these young karters success for the future.”

-A shout out to Pierre Pham for sending us this story!

May 04th, 2011

Celebrity Cars: What does Katy Perry Drive?

We admit it, we love Katy Perry. We like her fun pop songs (yup, sometimes we sing along in the car), her fashion style (um, who doesn’t love a bra with fireworks?!), and the fact that she just seems like a cool chick we’d like to go on a road trip with.

But the real test of whether she is a Drive Like A Woman kind of woman is what car does she like to drive? Her car of choice is the Audi A5.

We think it’s a fantastic choice! Not too flashy but plenty of fun to be had in this car. We also appreciate the fact that she doesn’t like to be chauffeured. Perry, like us, is a woman who likes to be in the drivers seat!

April 26th, 2011

New Dartz SUV Made Just for Women

Dartz has just come out with the Prombron Iron Diamond, an SUV made specifically for ladies. It seems as if Dartz really does understand women. In their press release they say that while it is difficult to meet two ladies at a party wearing the same dress (perish the thought!) you would certainly see two women driving the same car. They resolve to fix this problem with a fully customizable car that comes in 10 different dresses exteriors. And by exteriors we’re not talking different paint colors. They’ve really taken this dress metaphor seriously. The styles include: snake, crocodile, whale, skat (no, we don’t know what this is either), chameleon and elephant skins or standart carbon’s and mattes.

This car company certainly does love, um, unique textures. Lest we forget this is the same company that made their $1.5 million Dartz Prombron Monaco Red Diamond Edition (the one with diamond-encrusted white gold gauges and gold-plated bulletproof windows) interior from whale penis leather—yup seriously. It caused quite a firestorm with Pamela Anderson and PETA which the company took in stride by creating a “Penisguard Volga.”

Despite their run in with Ms. Anderson the company clearly loves its ladies and came up with some original ideas, all for us of course. The car only has 3 doors (no passenger side door). Why you ask, well so no one will steal our Hermes! Don’t worry no one or thing is getting into this vehicle, it’s also fully armored. So who might need such a vehicle? Well, the first one was already ordered by the daughter of a Kasakh oil magnet.

Click READ MORE to check out the Dartz press release (in it’s entirety without the help of our copy editing department, or theirs apparently).

Read More

April 19th, 2011

Pippa Mann First British Woman at Indy 500

Pippa Mann, 27, will be the first British woman to race in the Indianapolis 500. This year will see 4 women racing in the race this year: Danica Patrick (US), Ana Beatriz (Brazil) and Simona De Silvestro (Switzerland).

Mann is new to IndyCar but she’s certainly one to watch. De Silvestro was the 2010 IndyCar Rookie of the year and Patrick is a veteran. Should be an interesting race to see who comes out on top.

Mann will race with Conquest Racing at the Indy 500 on May 29th.

April 07th, 2011

More Woman Than Ever Driving in the Country of Georgia

According to a new article on Finchannel.com, a news website covering Georgia and Ukraine, the number of women driving cars has risen “significantly” in the last three years in Georgia.

Vakhtang Antadze, Marketing Manager of Iberia Business Group, backs up this number. “If we compare the current market to the last 2-3 years, the number of women owners of Volkswagen cars increased by 35% and of Audis - 20%.”

Other popular cars in the country include: Mercedes A class and CLK, Mitsubishi Pajero iO,  Infiniti fx35. Otar Bakradze, Sales Manager of Strada Auto, was quoted as saying “I have to note that out of the last 20 customers 7 were women which I don’t think is a small figure”