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Where are the women in Formula One racing?

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In recent years, some major sports leagues have started to really see the value of their female athletes. For example, the WNBA recently announced a rebrand effort meant to supercharge the league’s publicity, and the USA women’s soccer team is finally making headway in their fight for equal pay. But one massively popular sport not only doesn’t value female participants, it still severely lacks them at all: Formula 1 (F1) racing. According to the BBC, as of 2012, the 62nd year of F1, only five women had ever entered the Grand Prix, the last of whom had competed in the 1990s. 

Desire Wilson is one of these five women, and the only woman who ever won a race. She condemns the idea that the lack of women’s participation in motor sports is due to their lack of self-confidence and enough physical strength, by insisting that in a sport which requires more mental capacity, women are actually "stronger" mentally than men. 

Others argue that there are no women in F1 because it requires physical strength that they don’t biologically possess. Dr. Riccardo Ceccarelli, former medical support for F1 teams, refuted this assumption when he stated that a driver needs to spend only 30 percent of their time on physical training and the other 70 percent on brain training. 

Then there’s plain sexism. When the BBC asked Bernie Ecclestone, the chief executive of the Formula 1 group, why women’s participation in the F1 remains drastically low in 2012, he responded, “If Susie's as quick in a car as she looks good out of a car, she'll be a huge asset.” 

All of these rationales ignore the systemic problems that are truly at the root of the lack of women’s participating. Of the 822 men who have competed in Formula 1 over the years, most are white men, a large number of whom also come from families with an F1 legacy and have both financial and personal support to compete from their fathers. This economic factor leaves many girls, and especially girls of color and/or girls from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, incapable of entering the sport. According to The Verge, kids often begin their racing careers as young as age 7, yet participation in a single season at that level costs between €50,000 and €75,000. This cost rises to about €1 million as athletes graduate to junior, senior, and international races. Participation, therefore, requires that wealthy parents effectively invest in their kids as Formula 1’s next generation of drivers. This financial head start also often determines how teams choose to bring on younger drivers. This reality was highlighted in Netflix’s documentary series Drive to Survive, during which Esterban Ocon, a very talented driver, lost his seat with his previous team because he wasn't born into a rich, influential background.   

This cycle also results in young boys having countless role models in the sport to look up to, whereas women have no female role models to encourage them to participate. Hopefully, Formula 1’s recent launch of Formula W, an all-women racing championship, will at least help address that problem — although the majority of the 18 drivers participating are white women.

 

Ultimately, the gender inequality in Formula 1 goes beyond representation, and serves as a reminder of how women must continue to fight for inclusion in spheres once considered impenetrable. It is essential to challenge the idea of it being a rich white man’s world to a world where anyone can venture.



More articles by Category: Sports
More articles by Tag: Women of color, Equality, Sexism
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Mardiya Siba Yahaya
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