Eyes glaring and boys staring. Will she make it? It looks pretty close. It’s definitely a tight one. A smooth slide and it looks achievable. She musters her strength, ignores everyone and makes an effortless go at it. 

Yes! She finally did it! 

She parked her car : a parallel parking. 

Wait.. What?! 

How many of you ‘women’ drivers are aware of the fact that you are constantly on an invisible vigil? I am not talking about the vigil set by the traffic police. This is a vigil set by no one in particular but complied by almost everyone. The vigil force is the strongest when you (a woman) overtake a car driven by a male, a car with only women passengers breaks down or when you park your car in a new location. How exactly does this force work? How strong is it? Let’s find out. 

I want to first address a silent fact (unaccepted, but true) where men have prejudiced views against women drivers. If not all, most of them. If a car in front drives sloppily, without an actual glimpse of the driver, a man may go “It must be a woman!” Women drivers have become infamous for their clumsy driving. We are the butt of driving jokes. It’s as if all men drive perfectly! We all know how imperfect that sentence sounds! Even if you factually look at accident records, men drivers account for a larger share. I am not sure how the case study or the title of lame drivers originated but women are an essential ingredient in it. How unfortunate. Is it because of previous driving records or is it because we have breasts?

This whole sexist perspective makes a woman extra cautious and at times nervous because she has this responsibility of representing the entire women community. If you drove good, oh well, no you did not break any stereotypical barrier, but if you were bad, “oh lord, you women drivers!”, exclaims some irritable man. The amusing part of women driving is not when they drive on the road, it’s in fact when they try to park their car. Parallel parking on a busy road: the most daunting of them all. If you have men hanging around the vicinity, be sure to be watched like a circus performer. Even if you are a pro, the moment you realize they are watching you, you somehow forget how to park. It’s similar to how in an exam hall, when an invigilator stands right next to you and stares into your answer sheet, you somehow forget not just the answer, but you also forget how to hold a pen to write. More the eyes, the more the pressure. So, yes the vigil force is strong, omnipresent and annoying.

Before my article turns into a sexist one, I would definitely acknowledge the good Samaritans as well. To bring a balance, you do have men who appreciates a woman driver by gesturing a thank you for waiting for them to clear the way, or maybe support women drivers in general. You even have gazing men who mean no harm. They wait to guide you to enable a smooth parking or maybe help you out to drive confidently through narrow spaces to avoid bumping the edges. Pleasing actions and gestures do exist. Nice to know. Hence, the force is not that bad, eh? 

I am sure you would have experienced this force to be either good, bad or maybe a mix of both but whatever it is, we know it exists. Next time when you are driving and if you hear a man in another car who is driving past you say “Oh great, it’s a woman”, there are two things you can do. First, analyze (within nanoseconds) the context and the tone to see if they genuinely meant it as a shocking appreciation towards great women drivers (highly unlikely). Second, is to react. If you are convinced that you detected sarcasm, go ahead my friend. Roll down your window and show them the precious finger. Make sure you smile while doing it and drive off into the sunset. 

The End.