Local History: Darned Women Drivers! 1946 Battle Of The Sexes Aimed To Prove Who Was Safer Behind Wheel

Women drivers were incompetent. They were not emotionally fit to sit behind the wheel of a car. Crashes would decrease if only they wouldn’t drive.An Akron firestorm ignited in 1946 when a local safety official made those public statements about the inability of “our fairer sex” to drive. The sexist comments were the talk of the town 70 years ago, and led to a challenge pitting men against women.Gerald A.