From Henry Ford to Elon Musk, it’s always men that seem to get the glory in the history of the automobile. But now Ford itself is using the occasion of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month to shine a spotlight on the vital contribution the female sex has made to the development of the car.
Called the Ford Explorer “Men’s Only Edition” this make-believe SUV stars in a short spoof advert that begins by giving us the impression that it’s just like any other special edition model. That is until Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston explains that the Explorer comes without windshield wipers, a heater, turn signals, rear-view mirror or GPS system because it’s missing all the crucial parts we take for granted every day, and which were developed by women.
The film is part of a campaign Ford is running throughout March to highlight the contribution women have made, and are still making, to cars around the world. The company is celebrating those achievements on its ford.com website and social media channels where it will remind us of important female engineers from the past, and introduce us to a host of current innovators working across the company in roles as diverse as trend-spotting, exterior design and hardware integration.
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Ford’s Heritage Vault archive, meanwhile, is celebrating Women’s History Month with a selection of products designed and engineered by women, including the 1994 Ford Mustang, the 1975 Ford Granada, and the 1999 Ford Windstar.
What’s unlikely to merit a mention in the campaign is that women weren’t always so valued in the Ford empire. Back in 1968 female sewing machine operators employed to make car seats at Ford’s Dagenham plant in the UK went on strike to protest at being paid less than men working in other areas of the factory. The strike, which was made into a movie, Made in Dagenham, in 2010, ended after three weeks when the women were granted a pay increase, but the episode was instrumental in the passing of Britain’s Equal Pay Act in 1970.