The Little Women Syndrome

It's the 21st Century and yet in the eyes of the male-dominated motor industry women still seem not to have achieved equal status with men. Take the Paris Motor Show as an example.

Leggy models were employed by the majority of car companies to 'compliment' their new car releases. Quite what a reed-thin woman with hair extensions has to do with the prototype of a new car which mayor may not make it into production is anyone's guess. Even the models themselves weren't certain of their role other than to stand next to a car and look attractive and even that didn't come without penalty.

Several of these girls headed to the toilets during a break to take off their shoes and patch up the blisters that resulted from all that standing around next to cars. As one remarked, she wished she had known she was required to hang around for so long, because she would have padded her shoes beforehand. She was asked whether being a model standing next to a car at the Paris Motor Show was worth it.

''Not really'' she said as she shrugged her shoulders with a typically French gesture. ''None of the men talk to you because they're more interested in the engine.''

When McLaren launched their new road carat a function designed to impress potential buyers and the media, they employed other leggy models to' compliment' the launch phase. But it could have back-fired, to use a motoring term. One English journalist said it was an' utterly pointless exercise in old-fashionedness' to launch a state-of-the-art car with women hanging off the bonnet or draped around the bumpers.

''What's the message here?'' he asked. ''Airwomen going to buy this car and therefore need to be coerced by other women to do so? Or are the girls supposed to appeal to men who might buy this car?''

Other women had other roles at the Paris Motor Show. Seat employed two dancers hoisted aloft to stand on platforms balanced on a single swaying flexible pole about 10 metres in the air and grooving to a tune. The connection between Seat cars, loud music and women dancing near the ceiling is questionable. One of the judges in the Women's World Car of the Year suggested it was because Seat cars are so boring they need a bit of excitement on the stand to liven things up.

Although they tend to be few and far between, there are some enlightened motoring industry executives who consciously promote marketing to women. Paul Bucket, Public Relations Manager for Volkswagen UK, is a strong supporter of the Women's World Car of the Year concept and believes firmly in the suggestion promoted by one of America's top sales people, Tom Peters, that girls are the new boys.

''If women aren't taken into consideration by the motor industry, cars simply won't sell' he says plainly.

Tell that to the New Zealand Motoring Writers' Guild. Each year the Guild chooses its Car of the Year. Except the committee that makes up the shortlist for their Car of the Year is made up entirely of male motoring writers. In early October The Guild was approached for this story and asked why there were no women journalists on that panel. To date there has been no reply.