Fiat removes handbooks given out with new cars that refers to women as 'co-pilots' and advises that they sit in the back to avoid distracting male drivers
Fiat has been forced to withdraw a handbook in Argentina which assumed drivers would be exclusively male and was packed full with sexist language.
The booklet, handed out to owners of new Fiat cars, enraged women by referring to ‘short skirts’, ‘nice legs’ and ‘wandering hands’.
Fiat Auto Argentina tweeted: ‘We’re sorry you were impacted by this as its development was never intended to disrespect women.’
The handbook (pictured, left) has now been withdrawn after an angry reaction on Twitter (right)
But Carolo LaFleur was angrily at the less than fulsome apology and tweeted: ‘They do not say they were wrong but merely lament our interpretation.’
The handbook, written in Spanish but handed out only in Argentina, is written on the basis that the only women in the cars will be passengers and drivers will be male.
Women are referred to as ‘co-pilots’ and it advises them: ‘If a lady’s skirt is too short, we recommend that she travel in the backseat to keep our (driver’s) concentration.
Women in Argentina are among the most educated in Latin America and a high percentage of drivers in Buenos Aires (pictured) are women, who drive cars to work
‘If the skirt is not that short but you tend to have a wandering hand, she should also travel behind.’
Feminists were also apoplectic about another excerpt which says women who intended to sit in the front ‘must at least have nice legs’.
The author of the booklet seems to have missed his true vocation writing 1950s-style romantic fiction.
At one point he writes that the driver should ‘behave like a gentleman’ and adds: ‘You should know that if your partner, girlfriend or squeeze travels with friends, you should become the chauffeur for each and every one of them, taking the spot of the alpha male and dropping each one of them safe and sound at their resting place.’
Last week a massive demonstration took place in the capital, Buenos Aires, aimed at drawing attention to sexist attitudes in Argentinian society.
The group that organised the protest published a photo of the handbook on its Facebook page and called it ‘a summary of stereotypical and misogynistic messages’.
Silvina Quintans tweeted ‘If this is their sales strategy, it would be good to remember that women also drive.’
The handbook triggered an angry reaction from women drivers in Argentina STOCK IMAGE
Fiat removes handbooks given out with new cars that refers to women as "co-pilots" and advises that they sit in the back to avoid distracting male drivers
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