Formula One Management has increased its female tally at senior management level while F1 (and other) teams have long appointed on merit rather than gender, be the positions for engineers or management, including team principal. The FIA Senate, previously a men-only cabinet, now counts two women among its number. Some progress has recently been made at last by the FIA, and not only at WMSC level. Thus Michèle Mouton, who competed against men on equal terms in world rallying during the eighties – regularly shading them – has input into global motorsport’s affairs on a par with that of the other 25 members. The equality in motorsport debate hit prominence in December after the inclusion (as a permanent seat) of the President of the FIA’s Women in Motorsport Commission (established in 2010) on the FIA World Motorsport Council. This arrangement might be said to discriminate against men it could also be argued that having a single-sex competition devalues the ‘open’ championship. Here there is a competition for both genders (which has never been won by a woman) and one for women only. There is a third option, one pursued by arguably the least physical but most cerebral of sports, namely chess. Should they be restricted to their own categories as per most physical sports? Or, reflecting the trend in most aspects of modern society, should they be treated as equals and be permitted to compete against men in open competition? How women participate in motorsport is a delicate yet recurring theme which affects the sport far beyond just Formula 1.
More enlightened views are beginning to be heard, but as explains the sheer weight of numbers means it could be years before we see more women in the top flight.
The fact very few women have reached the top of motor racing has been taken by some as proof they don’t belong there. Her controversial views rignited the debate over equality in motor racing. Last year the FIA appointed Carmen Jorda, a supporter of separate championships for men and women, to its Women in Motorsport Commission.
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