We know all about the famous men of automotive history – Henry Ford, Carl Benz, and Gottlieb Daimler just to name a few. But what about the women who changed the course of the industry? If not for the contributions of these innovative minds, we may not have many key features of cars that we know and love. In honor of Women’s History Month, we wanted to highlight some of our favorite women in automotive.

Bertha Benz (1849-1929)
You’ve heard of her husband, Carl, and the car brand Mercedes-Benz, but neither would be popular if not for Bertha Benz. Benz invested her dowry in Carl’s endeavors to build a horseless carriage before their marriage and assisted in the development of the Motorwagen – a motorized tricycle widely considered the first practical modern automobile.
A successful marketer, Benz schemed to get free publicity for the Motorwagen by driving the 60-mile trip from Mannheim to Pforzheim, Germany, with her two teenage sons, making her the first person to drive an automobile long distance. On her drive, she observed and addressed kinks in the design. These observations led to the invention of the modern-day brake pad and additional gears for climbing hills.

Mary Anderson (1866-1953)
Real estate developer, rancher, and wine-making expert Mary Anderson dabbled in anything with a potential for profit. While visiting snowy New York City, she noticed how often trolley drivers opened their windows to clean off the windshield with their hands.
Anderson invented and patented a spring-loaded wiping blade attached to a lever inside the trolley car, so drivers wouldn’t get wet when clearing windshields. As cars rose in popularity, the wipers were eventually utilized by manufacturers.

Florence Lawrence (1886-1938)
Former child actress and “first movie star” of the silent film era, Florence Lawrence leveraged her wealth to own a rare automobile and took an interest in its mechanics.
Lawrence is credited as the inventor of the “auto-signaling arm,” a button which triggered a small flag to drop down from the rear bumper to notify other drivers which direction the driver plans to turn. She also created a sign reading “Stop” that flipped up on the bumper alerting when pressing the brakes. These inventions led the automotive industry away from using their hands to signal intent and the signs eventually transitioned to the turn signal lights we know today.

Clärenore Stinnes (1901-1990)
A talented German race car driver, Clärenore Stinnes not only won 17 racing titles but also became the first person to circumnavigate the globe by car in 1929. Inspired by Charles Lindbergh’s crossing of the Atlantic in 1927, Stinnes committed to driving around the world. Though not an inventor, her globetrotting trip challenged not only gender stereotypes but also demonstrated what the automobile was capable of, such as its resilience during long distances, primitive landscapes, and diverse weather.
Stinnes’ journey started in Frankfurt, leading her through the Gobi Desert, Beijing, Japan, Los Angeles, Chile, New York, France, and eventually back to Germany. During this trip, Stinnes and her companion, along with her dog, Lord, used dynamite to clear roads of fallen rocks, rescued the car from quicksand, and even drank water from the radiator to avoid dying of thirst.

Suzanne Vanderbilt and the Damsels of Design (1933-1988)
A team of 10 all-female interior designers at General Motors in the 1950s, known as the “Damsels of Design,” worked hard to thrive in the male-dominated industry of car design while creating innovative and artistic designs of their own. The women put on a unique car show known as the 1958 Spring Fashion Festival of Women Designed Cars, dazzling visitors with their metallic paint jobs, artistic displays, and creative features, such as child-proof doors, makeup mirrors, retractable seat belts, and storage consoles.
One of these designers, Suzanne Vanderbilt, went on to become chief designer at General Motors. Vanderbilt said of the Damsels, “We enjoyed proving to our male counterparts that we are not in the business to add lace doilies to seat backs or rhinestones to the carpets, but to make the automobile just as usable and attractive to both men and women as we possibly can.”

Without the creative minds of these women, many of the important features in our cars we take for granted may not exist. So, next time you signal before you turn, replace your brake pads, or use your wipers in the rain, remember the contributions of the female investors, inventors, designers, and adventurers who came before to make our ease on the road possible today.

Ready to join the innovative minds of the automotive industry? Browse open opportunities at Reynolds here.