# Women as auto mechanics? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 25, 2016, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-as-auto-mechanics/758317 "2016-06-25T13:09:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![mo50](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@mo50](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mo50)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-as-auto-mechanics/758317/61 "2016-06-28T12:23:56Z")
There is/was a place in Burlington Vermont named Girlington, an all female auto repair shop, or at least female owned & operated. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-as-auto-mechanics/758317/62 "2016-06-29T02:40:26Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Well yes they can get in the way. Many times you have to reach into things. I remember one maintenance guy for Xerox was showing us how to fix a particular jam and it requires basically hugging the machine and reaching in from both sides and one woman who was well endowed said she wouldnt be able to do that. This is why there are no overweight male mechanics. > [@MoonMoon](#): > > Oh come on. This cannot be a serious post. Consider the source. How many “Oh those wimmin thinking they can do man stuff! Amirite?” threads has the OP started now? ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2016, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-as-auto-mechanics/758317/63 "2016-06-29T03:50:24Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > This is why there are no overweight male mechanics. > > Consider the source. How many “Oh those wimmin thinking they can do man stuff! Amirite?” threads has the OP started now? And a junior high’ish fascination with boobs. Yes, women have them. Why is this news? ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-as-auto-mechanics/758317/64 "2016-06-30T15:54:50Z")
I don’t go to a lot of mechanic’s shops, so I can’t really comment on the OP’s question with respect to our local shop population. But may god bless these ladies! (I’m looking forward to the day when women run this world.) However, I wanted to mention the TV show, _All Girl’s Garage_, with respect to the (perceived) trend that girls are getting more interested in auto-mechanics. I think the show is brilliant from a marketing perspective. It’s got cute girls doing manly things. So I see it as a double-bonus; guys would watch the show for the TnA and girls would watch it for information and maybe a sense of community, too. I’ve watched it a few times. It’s fairly well-scripted, directed, and produced (within the confines of the Velocity network), but it doesn’t have much substance. Though in fairness, few of these televised repair shows do. But the chicks really know what they are talking about and present it without any of the machismo that you might find on those same-type shows dominated by dudes. [http://www.velocity.com/tv-shows/all-girls-garage/](http://www.velocity.com/tv-shows/all-girls-garage/) ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-as-auto-mechanics/758317/65 "2016-06-30T16:31:11Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I was in high school in the late 60s/early 70s. All girls were required to take Home Ec and all boys had to take at least one shop class. Girls could not take shop and boys could not take Home Ec. Period. I already knew how to cook and sew, but I wasn’t allowed to learn how to build a birdhouse or fix a car. It just wasn’t done. > > At least our 9th grade science teacher wasn’t slave to that thinking. When we studied the 4-stroke cycle internal combustion engine, he had each of us tear down and reassemble a small engine. I loved that stuff!! And I loved that class. > > Who knows what path I might have followed if I hadn’t been burdened with that kind of gender-role thinking… when I took auto shop in high school, those restrictions were long gone. though only a few girls would take auto shop, the teacher said they tended to be the best students. Probably partly because us guys were too busy screwing around and peacocking… ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2016, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-as-auto-mechanics/758317/66 "2016-06-30T17:15:07Z")
I’ve never in my life seen a female auto mechanic. Besides for it culturally not being a female thing (& it’s possible that there is also an inherent difference in predisposition between the genders), the general work environment of many mechanic shops is also pretty crude and a lot of women probably don’t think they would be comfortable there. (I know women who aren’t comfortable bringing their cars to mechanics, let alone hanging out there all day.) > [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Well yes they can get in the way. Many times you have to reach into things. I remember one maintenance guy for Xerox was showing us how to fix a particular jam and it requires basically hugging the machine and reaching in from both sides and one woman who was well endowed said she wouldnt be able to do that. I find this hard to believe. Any machine that was inaccessible to well-endowed women would also present problems to men with shorter arms and the like. It’s hard to imagine that Xerox would design a machine like that. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-as-auto-mechanics/758317/67 "2016-07-01T11:15:13Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > when I took auto shop in high school, those restrictions were long gone. though only a few girls would take auto shop, the teacher said they tended to be the best students. Probably partly because us guys were too busy screwing around and peacocking… My school introduced a sort of mini-shop (we had to be able to do it in a regular classroom, so nothing bigger than a shoebox involved) when I was in 5th grade. 30+ years later it’s still there, still required for all students. That’s the most college-oriented school in the area, and the course was part of a set designed to point out that there are also these “trades” things and maybe some of us would be interested in going to the trades HS. Some people (who did not bring their children to that school) found or find it scandalous or wasteful that girls are required to build a motor; the same people are likely to find it absurd that boys are required to learn how to sew a button. Every time it’s come up I’ve seen it thoroughly slapped down by someone who did take the classes and find them useful; not once have I heard someone say that he or she had these classes and found them worthless. ---
**Author:** ![Reluctant\_A](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@Reluctant\_A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reluctant_A)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-as-auto-mechanics/758317/68 "2016-07-01T16:17:33Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > And a junior high’ish fascination with boobs. Yes, women have them. Why is this news? Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! Let’s not start lumping everybody with a junior high’ish fascination with boobs into the same barrel as that guy! :mad: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-as-auto-mechanics/758317.md?page=3)