Breathe
By Mónica Hernández
Has anyone ever thought that driving is also a gender issue? I scoffed at this idea, but someone, in a European country, took it seriously. And I am not referring to Bertha Benz, that woman who even today is not credited with having popularized driving a thing on the streets - let alone that a fragile figure with a frail body and nerves, as women were in the 19th century, should get in front of a steering wheel. At the time, their audacity was considered a crime. But yes, the history of the rolling automobile begins with a woman (who was also a mechanic, like her husband, to whom she financed the idea of a motorized, autonomous carriage with her own dowry). Today I refer to the billions of women who every day get into a car and drive it where they should and want to go.
This phrase, "drive like a woman", which was intended as a compliment, has become a macho claim in France. Yes, in the country where citizens thought it was a good idea to behead all enemies (real or imaginary), the same country that welcomed the Germans in Paris without firing a single shot, a country that makes us dream as tourists, even if the locals detest visitors. A Paris that today welcomes millions of Olympic Games enthusiasts, a city that left no one indifferent with the opening ceremony that has already changed ceremonies forever.
