Iran Designs Special Car For Lady-People

Iran, home of “we don’t have gay people here” president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has come up with a new design for a woman-friendly car. And no, it doesn’t have vibrating seats or a chocolate steering wheel, but that was our first question too. Instead, the car will be designed to help women during their daily chores, with features to keep them happy, safe and patronized, thanks in part to managing director Vahid Najafi.

“Women’s necessities are different from men’s,” Najafi said. “For example, a woman goes shopping, takes children to school - so this car is going to have some visual distinctions that will separate it from other cars. It will be more beautiful. Cheerful and attractive colours will be used - for example red. A series of decoration pieces will be added to the interior, on the dashboard for example. What’s important for women is that the car should be comfortable and handle well.”

Women in Iran are allowed to drive cars, but are segregated from men on public transportation and are not allowed to drive motorcycles. Cars have become an increasingly popular option for those who can afford it, and the car-maker, Iran Khodro, claims that this model is based on research into what Iranian women really want in a car.
So what are some of these features?

• Automatic transmission

• Parking and navigation aids

• A special jack for changing tires more easily than usual

• An alarm to warn of flat tires

• Audiovisual entertainment systems for child passengers

• “A range of feminine colors and interior designs”

• A glowing LED readout on the dash, with the phrase “Remember You Are Inferior”

Ok the last one isn’t real, but it might as well be. All of these features are potentially desirable, but having them in one package designed to be “just for women” is fairly gag-inducing. There’s nothing wrong with playing to strengths and weaknesses, and we can all agree that most women have less upper body strength than men. But are all women shitty parkers and navigators? Do all women like only “feminine” colors?

Iranian women make up 60% of university students, but they are still kept within narrowly defined traditional roles. Ahmadinejad “insists that Iranian women are the most equal in the world,” but Iran also condones honor killings, stonings to punish female adultery, and oh what the heck have a whole list:

Although there are more women in parliament in Iran than in the UK, they still have to seek permission from their husbands to work outside the home or travel abroad, are subjected to spot checks by patrols, lose custody of their children in divorce cases and have half the inheritance rights of males. According to Amnesty International, a girl who has been raped can be murdered with impunity by her father or another male relation seeking to cleanse the stain on the family name.

Yeah. I think we need more than a tricked out mini-van to make Iranian women feel better about their situation.

Iran unveils plan for women’s car [BBC]