Leaning into the U.S., women have become the majority of automobile drivers. Figures from the Federal Highway Administration show that in 2011—the last year with data available—50.5% of licensed drivers were women, up from 39.6% in 1963.
That share should only grow in the years to come, reckons Michael Sivak of the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute. The reasons for this are a drop in the number of young men actually getting licenses and an increase in the share of older drivers. The latter matters because more women make it into old age than men.
Meantime, the pay gap between men and women continues to narrow. The median female worker made 81 cents for every dollar her male counterpart made last year, compared with 62 cents in 1979. That trend, too, will almost certainly continue: Survey findings recently released by the Labor Department showed that among Americans born in the early 1980s, 30% of women had received a bachelor's degree by the age of 25 compared with just 22% of men.
One conclusion arising from all this is that women are becoming a much more potent force in the car market. That could pose a challenge for the auto industry in general.
Women also tend to buy less expensive cars. According to research firm RDA Group, the average new car bought by a woman last year cost 12% less than the average new car bought by a man.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, March 19, 2013
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