She Drives: VERITY Now April 2024 Update
At VERITY NOW, we’re working to improve women’s safety in vehicles by advocating for updated crash testing standards. She Drives is a monthly email newsletter with updates on the latest news, research, upcoming events and ways to get involved with VERITY NOW. We’re glad you’re here, now let’s get into it.
In this section, we’ll cover all the things we’ve been working on or paying attention to over the last month and what is coming up next.
NPR’s ‘Women Behind the Wheel’ explains how cars became a gendered technology
“You bring up a subject in your book that’s really important to me…[cars] are not necessarily designed for a woman’s safety…” Terry Gross, host, National Public Radio’s Fresh Air, March 28, 2024.
We agree with you Terry -- we want the government to require equal tests and female crash test dummies in crash testing, so that all cars are designed with women’s safety in mind. Visit the link here to listen to the insightful episode.
Resource Refresh – New Content on the VERITY Now Website
Exciting news – we have updated our resources page where you can find documents that give the facts on crash test inequality. Visit the resources page on our website, or see below, for highlights from each document:
The “Get the Facts” resource is a Q&A on why we need female crash test dummies and equal tests.
The “Deciphering the Conversation on Female Crash Test Dummies” resource focuses on claims that have been made about female crash test dummies and offer a deeper dive into the facts.
The “By the Numbers” resource explains the cost of bias – both to women and our society.
We hope you find these resources helpful as we fight for equality in crash testing together! Feel free to download the PDFs and share with your networks.
There’s a lot to cover when it comes to vehicle safety, especially when it comes to women’s health and wellbeing. In this section, we’ll cover the top things you need to know when it comes to protecting women behind the wheel.
DYK? Women make up 15% of people employed in transportation and material-moving occupations
Per the Federal Highway Administration, the current labor force includes over 60 million women (about twice the population of Texas). However, the representation of women in certain fields is still low, with only 8 percent in engineering, 18 percent as engineering technicians, and 30 percent as natural scientists. Furthermore, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that women constitute approximately 15 percent of the over 9.1 million individuals employed in transportation and material-moving occupations.
Are you interested in joining our fight for equitable safety standards in vehicle testing? Maybe your organization should be an official VERITY Now coalition partner. Please reach out to info@veritynow.org to learn more about partnership opportunities.
Check out our friends at The Rep Project!
For those who don’t know, The Representation Project is an organization working to spotlight the consequences of intersectional gender stereotypes through film, education and activism.
Check out their Instagram (@missrepresentation) to see the latest post spotlighting VERITY Now’s issue!
Are you interested in joining our fight for equal safety standards in vehicle testing? Have an idea for how your or your organization could help? Send them our way! Please reach out to info@veritynow.org to learn more about partnership opportunities or to share your thoughts.
Check out our Take Action page or pick one (or more) actions from the list below.
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If you have any questions or just want to say hello, please reach out to our team at info@veritynow.org.