to think this is a bit sexist

[captaincake]

Why are men excluded? women's winter workshop

I love the pictures of the young man 'splaining to the silly ladies.

My mum was a mechanic in her dad's garage and my aunt had her own rally team. in the interests of balance I'm a shit driver

It's not exactly an in depth workshop is it? It's just basic car maintenance that every car owner should know anyway.

Are women really perceived to be so incompetent we need this shit? It's not mechanics, it's showing you where to top up the screen wash. Do they think we need help finding the petrol cap too?

Although I have defended this upthread, I do actually agree that it's all a bit patronising because the wording of it does make it sound like there is an assumption that women don't know these basic things, whilst men do.

But at the same time, I do see the appeal in an all female 'class' for this sort of thing.

I would much rather go to a group that was all women TBH. Sorry about that.

That said I have no need for the workshop because I can do all that list already.

Well...I do actually know some women who have never actually put fuel in their car because when it needs done they will send their husband to do it. It totally blows my mind but they are quite happy with the whole 'oh I couldn't possibly do that' thing.

So maybe some women could do with a class explaining where the fuel cap is

It's like having a man's sewing class, sewing is a good skill and they can tailor it to men's interests.

Won't it, Senpai? Do we actually know this, or are we just assuming that women won't go to car workshops, and men won't want the basics. All gets a bit chicken and egg.

I can't speak for every man or woman on the planet. Everyone is unique, but humans all follow general trends.

Generally speaking, things that are marketed towards men or women are done so because they are the largest buying demographic and companies want to keep that and get more from that demographic.

It's why baby products and scented candles are marketed towards women. They're just more likely to buy it anyway, and by marketing towards them you really capitalize on that demographic by making an appealing product to them even more appealing. Men who naturally like scented candles will buy them anyway, but if you marketed towards men or gender neutral you'd doing yourself a disservice by not acknowledging your biggest buying market and therefore dropping potential revenue. They've done man candles, and they smelled terrible. No man or woman wanted them.

So if a car class will appeal more to women than men, then it makes sense to market to them and capitalize on that group to get the most money. Yes some men might like the class, but not enough to justify the money spent paying for the instructor and advertising space.

But it's a real chicken and egg scenario, if you market it to women, to the exclusion of men, then unsurprisingly more women will buy. Which fuels the marketers to segregate even more.

It's like pink toys for girls, people argue it's because more girls but pink toys, yet it's relatively recent in history that pink was considered masculine, and blue feminine.

I'm not sure if have felt comfortable with a load of petrol headed blokes ready to show off their 'superior' knowledge.

Why on earth would a petrol head be at a basic winter car care workshop??

they do a children's bike workshop is that ageist?

No it's not sexist.

HTH

But it's a real chicken and egg scenario, if you market it to women, to the exclusion of men, then unsurprisingly more women will buy. Which fuels the marketers to segregate even more.

Well it may be a chicken and egg scenario, but the eggs have already hatched, ya know?

You can't just market pink to boys and expect them to suddenly want them. It's already been established that pink is a girl thing.

I would go to that. I don't know how to do any of the stuff they cover and I'd prefer if it was just women, Id feel more comfortable in that environment.

I don't think its sexist, just tailored to a specific market.

A number of years ago I did a course aimed at women in basic DIY. And very good it was too, covering as it did, things like tiling and plastering walls, electrics, painting and a whole lot more. So I was all ready to say this isn't sexist at all and a good idea to give women a man free class in the basics of car care.

I'm not sure I'd call it sexist, but it's a bit bloody patronising. Are there really enough women out there who don't know these extremely basic things about the cars they are driving to fill classes across the country.

I thought that when you take your driving test nowadays you are likely to be tested on these very basic 'skills' and so surely you should be taught them by your driving instructor.

How can anyone own a car and not know these things?

i think more so to women tbh even though they are trying to be helpful.
i know how to do all those things and ive been driving for 4yrs, its common sense when you drive.

Yep - transparently sexist.

Doesn't necessarily make it a bad idea though. Sometimes you need sexist solutions in a sexist society.

I do think it would be good if more women felt enabled to take over running the car...and I think this is a likely approach to achieve this.

But still definitely sexist.

That is a very basic list of things.

I did a basic car maintenance course when I first got a car. It was rather more involved than the Halfords one (but did run over 10 weeks). It was mostly women, but also a couple of boys, one of whom was yet to take his test, and the other had only recently passed. The aim was to give you enough knowledge so that when you're talking to a mechanic, you will know they're not talking total tosh to you.

Actually, the most important lesson I think was, "If someone offers to get their hands dirty by helping you change a tyre or whatever, then let them - you can direct them with what to do."

They should call it 'novice/beginners car winter workshop'.

My dad only learnt to drive when I was 16 and when I learnt at 17 I was the one who taught him how to do those things - he was utterly clueless, he still is now.

But to be honest, the content included should already have been learnt as part of learning to drive. Anyone with a full licence should know how to do those things - I think they can ask questions or ask the candidate to check oil etc during driving tests.

But I would give it a wide berth anyway as I would just expect it to be an attempt by Halfords to rip people off with overpriced and unnecessary products and services.

Where do incompetent men go to gain this kind of knowledge though? They would most likely be taken the piss out of if they asked someone.

The reality is that the people on a course like this are going to be ignorant in car maintenance. No man on it is going to be in a position to make out he is superior to any woman.

I don't suppose they test anyone before they sign up, though.

So, you think people are going to sign up despite knowing how to do all those very basic things.

really?

What is sexist is not that men are not 'invited' hmm but the implication that us little womenz need an extra speshial heads up about such complicated things like window wipers.

Hmm, Spelling lessons maybe, or were we trying to be clever?

Some women like to learn in women only groups - these groups are all over the place - in climbing, kayaking & many other sports/hobbies. There are swim groups, gym classes etc...

Why single this one out?? If there is a market for it, then there is obviously a demand for it....

No, I mean it's the sort of course women would be most likely to sign up to, even if it weren't given a women-only title - it's more socially acceptable for women to say they don't know about cars. But I could imagine some bloke signing up to see if there are any single women he could ask out - it's free, it's a short length of time. Possibly MN has made me too cynical.

An incompetent man will quite often (and again I stress, not always) be quite happy to let an incompetent, or even a competent, woman believe that he knows much more than she does. And women lacking confidence will often believe him and feel intimidated. Which is why I think that in.this scenario a female only class could be a positive thing.

They are not doing this as they want to 'teach the ladies all about the basics' - it is to tick an Equality box somewhere.