Ask Patty Around the World Blog Carnival: September 11, 2007

Welcome back to this week's blog carnival of female friendly car items from all around the world. Last week we featured a potpourri of news and notes, but this week we're completely focused on women and their cars, women who work on cars, women who want to work on cars, and women who need cars.

We really like Hundalz! If she's not Busting Laurel and Hardy-type car thieves in the middle of the night, then she's researching how best to buy a new SUV in the United States, before driving it back home to Canada. She's got it all figured out, from research, to the purchase, to the registration.

After years of being ignored, female drivers are finally getting recognized by the auto industry as an important part of the market. What could make more sense than an emerging market for women-specific automotive tools? This woman's blog over at springwise.com features an assortment of roadside safety and tool kits meant just of us gals!

Sue VanDer Hout at Girlphyte tells the tale of one woman, who became "bored of the desk jockey routine," and moved on to fixin' cars, saying "Frances Dubach recognized opportunity knocking. In her case, it was the clinking sound of popping the caps, unfastening nuts and changing a tire." That's cool.

If you're interested in discovering a new profession in the automotive industry, consider this: For the fifth consecutive year, the I-CAR Education Foundation in conjunction with Akzo Nobel Coatings Inc. and "The Most Influential Women of the Collision Repair Industry," will offer a scholarship for female collision repair students. Check it out if your're curious about scholarship opportunities.


Now celebrating its ninth anniversary, the Cars for Success program provides vehicles for low-income women who are returning to the workforce, allowing them to experience independence from welfare and their batterers. "It is important that women receive the tools to make the transition from welfare to work," said Sandra Ramos, executive director of Strengthen Our Sisters. For more information about this excellent program, call (973) 728-7835. Donations of running cars are always needed.

That's it for this week! Make sure to submit your article for next week's "Automotive Advice for Women Blog Carnival" using the online form or by emailing Ask Patty at info@askpatty.com.