500 car shows on TV. Where are the lady mechanics?

Not so long ago, my friend Phyllis had a birthday. She has a broad friendship network, and as a result the group that gathered for her celebration didn't know one another. We did a round of "hi, nice to meet you," and then the conversation lagged. Phyllis' partner Len scanned the table, his eyes dancing as he glanced at each of us. Mischievously, he announced, "I have a surprise for you."

What's that, Len?

"Raise your hand if you have a welding ticket," he said.

We looked at each other. There were five women at the table. Four of us had our hands up. We all started laughing. This never happens. A discussion ensued about our pursuits and professions- automotive, manufacturing, and so on.

Someone made a comment that we ought to get together and have a reality show: Girls Garage or something similar. It sounded like a good idea to us. After all, those programs focus on oddball characters with big personalities, and women in the trades tend to be those types. Hey, if we could get a network like the Discovery Channel to fund a shop for us, we'd be more than capable of making it go.

My travels through the blogosphere happened to land me on a podcast hosted by a married couple who produce reality TV. I remembered the birthday dinner and the Girls Garage concept; doing a bit of "research" about how to do a sizzle reel and pitch a show couldn't hurt. Listening to the professionals talk certainly did. In more than one episode, they emphasized that a show concept must fall into either "women's world," or "men's world." Which is to say that shows starring women have to be about fashion or decorating or living a ridiculous lifestyle centred around having 400 kids or getting your nails done every five minutes. Men's shows are about doing things: sports, construction, business.

I thought about the reality shows I watch. Fast N Loud- all guys, except for the poor beleaguered "beer assistant," Cristy. Vegas Rat Rods has one woman in the cast, and frankly the only reason she's there is because she's a former pin-up model. (Sorry, Twiggy. I'm sure you're growing into a great mechanic, but that's not why you got your job.) Top Chef comes out a lot better in the gender parity stakes; then again, cooking is mostly perceived as women's work.

What passes for industry wisdom says that men won't watch a show centred around activities they're interested in if it stars a woman. I'd like to see the evidence of that, to the best of my knowledge, it's never been tried! By the same token, they also say women won't watch a show about "manly" activities at all. If that's really the case, then why did Discovery's newsletter, Globe, celebrate the fact that female viewership of Fast N Loud was up by 31% way back in February of 2013?

Clearly, women are watching those shows. And maybe we'd like to see women actively doing things for a change! Because women do build houses and fix cars and make things other than cupcakes. Shouldn't the media reflect that?

"Women are watching those shows, okay," you say. "Why do those shows need to have female cast members?"

It's simple: women do those things, and a lot of them do a great job of it! Treating them as an anomaly is disrespectful and dishonest. One of the functions those shows serve is as fodder for daydreams. The viewer gets to play with the idea of living that life, doing that job. Unfortunately, we live in a highly gendered world, which makes it a fair bit harder for a female viewer to look at someone like Aaron Kaufman, the Bearded Wonder, and identify with him. Society has spent our whole lives telling us we're NOT like him and never will be, and if we want to be like him, there's something wrong with us. We could marry him, but we can't be him. That's a problem which won't go away any time soon.

Sidestepping that daydream barrier is easy: show a competent woman doing that job! Let girls see someone like them succeeding in those careers. Show enough of them, and the gendered categorization of work will fall away. Then we'll all be able to do the job we're best suited for.