Women have played important roles throughout history, molding society and the world alongside their counterparts. March is the annually declared month that highlights the contributions of women to events in history and society. In the United States, The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum join in commemorating and encouraging the study, observance, and celebration of the vital role of women in American history.

As an industry Fred Martin is a part of, we would like to highlight in the celebration of this month with some of the women who have made an impact in the automotive world. Here are some women who made a difference and changed the automotive world with contributions:

In 1886, Benz premiered the Benz-Patent Motorwagen, the world’s very first automobile. Two years later, Martha Benz, alongside her teenage sons in the Motorwagen, took a drive across their home country of Germany. The total length of the trip was 66 miles. That drive became the first long-distance road trip ever recorded while in an automobile.

Mary designed the very first windshield wiper. Her design consisted of a manual windshield wiper that was a rubber blade, operated with a crank.

Following in Mary’s concept, Charlotte engineered the first electronically-operated automatic windshield cleaners, also known as the “Storm Windshield Cleaner” back in the day.

Charlotte Bridgwood’s daughter Florence followed in her mother's footsteps, adding her ideas to the automotive world with the most important customizations to date that became the foundations of standard automotive safety. Her invention of turn and braking signals was revolutionary. The turn signals were flags that would flare out of the car’s bumper at the push of a button. Her brake signal was an actual sign that said “STOP,” which popped up when the brake pedal was pressed. Lawrence never patented these ideas, but they went on to shape traffic safety forever. Florence is widely credited with the invention of the first turn signaling system, as well as the first mechanical brake signal.

During the earlier time of the automobile age, a woman driving a vehicle was pretty rare. As one of the first writers to popularize the idea of a woman behind the wheel, Emily tells women that they do not need a chaperone in the car. According to her, it’s perfectly proper for a woman to drive herself, or even to drive a male passenger.

Hedy set the foundations in modern times that brought about the current technology in the vehicles that we drive today. She drew up plans for an improved traffic stoplight frequency-hopping signals. Her advances in communication technology led to today’s Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and, perhaps most important to modern vehicles, GPS.

She led the interior design of the game-changing Ford Taurus, which included innovations such as ergonomic seats, rotary dials for climate control, a digital instrument panel, and a complete suite of dashboard controls within the driver’s reach. The interior of your own car was most likely inspired by her Taurus design as her designs basically introduced a new standard in interior design to the daily driver.

Women involvement in shaping the history of the automotive industry is what assisted in the creation of the vehicles we drive today, and even at this very moment, new innovative women continue to lead the automotive industry with their ideas, inventions, and leadership.