I think most people become panicky and feel that the world is going to end when they have no knowledge of how to solve the problem…that is, they feel powerless. My mother’s family (my mother has 10 sisters) has perfected this reaction, and each sister seems to exhibit a different level and shade of hysteria. I am a woman, and have taken the time to understand how a car works (those manuals are great!) Your wife would be less fearful if she did some reading, or even undertook a simple repair. Reassure her that your mechanic is probably not a Rhodes scholar, but he or she has learned what caused the problem (based on various criteria) and what possible actions can solve it. A little critical thinking is always helpful.
It’s obvious that most of you don’t know farm girls. My first wife, who is no longer living, grew up in the country and understood machinery. I can remember one terribly hot day when we had bought some hay that was baled but still in the field. We had an old 1 ton Chevrolet pick-up truck. We loaded and secured 75 bales on the truck and were creeping through the field. My wife noticed that the temperature gauge was running a little high. I surmised that it was because we were moving slowly and it would go back to normal once we hit the road and were out of the field. My wife was skeptical, but when we hit the road, I ran the speed up in the lower gears to throw more coolant through the engine and the gauge returned to normal for a few minutes. It then started creeping up again, so I shifted to a lower gear, ran the engine rpm up and the temperture dropped, but not quite as low as before. Each time the gauge started to climb, I would downshift, and each time the temperature would come down a little, but not as much as before. We were about a mile and a half from home and I noticed the steam coming out of the engine. She was right–we had problems. I pulled into a little restaurant. They gave us a roll of tape and we got a bucket of water. The upper radiator hose had a hole at the neck of the thermostat housing. My hands were too big to work the tape around the hole, but my wife expertly taped the hose. Not only did we make it home, but we went back for another 75 bales of hay. In fact, my wife’s repair worked so well that I didn’t bother to replace the hose for a year.
I agree that 5 hours would do it but just wanted to reinforce the upper limits of the time frame where the person dealing with them either finishes ripping out what little hair they have left or walks out in search of another career.
Like you, I’ve been around it for close to 40 years and have never met a female tech, seen any at the ASE testing facility, nor have I ever seen any at any service schools I’ve ever attended; and there’s been more than I can remember.
No doubt there is a stray, mechanically minded woman somewhere but I’ve never had the privilege of meeting them.
Maybe sometime I’ll relate the story about the lady who had me test drive her Subaru on the freeway and opened up an attache case with a S & W .40 Caliber in it; along with a veiled insinuation. A miscalculation on her part.
That may be because women make different choices in lifestyle. Our educational system is biased to the success of women and they come out of that ahead of men. When they enter the workplace, they want to spend more of their time on family, friends and recreational activities. Men are more work-oriented.
Reason #427 why expecting male/female pay parity is faulty:
For men, the ability to be a significant wage earner and support one’s family is a big part of his self-image as a man (i.e. to provide for his family). The big “push” for women to enter the workforce has always been couched as one of “self-fufillment,” and women do not seem to have their female identity hinge so much upon their ability to be a primary wage earner.
It is thus reasonable to expect women to place “fufilling” jobs as a comparatively higher criterion (and wage as a comparatively lower criterion) than men do. The logical result of such adjustment of criteria would be for women to hold more personally rewarding (but lower paying) jobs than men.
Is a highly-paid person–in a job he doesn’t like much–better, or worse, off than a person in a lower paying job with greater fufillment? I’m not certain how one could begin to answer this (an economist might make noises about “indifference curves,” but I dunno.)
But to answer the original question, I believe a big part is rape. From girlfriends and family members, I’ve frequently seen women hesitate to go places alone that I, as a man, have no compunction going. As for this being an “irrational fear,” well, most fears are irrational. If approached rationally, 90% of “fears” would become “concerns.”
You must have stories about guns you find in cars that were dispatched to you for service? what did you do? If you just left it alone and someone else nabs it (like the car jockeys or wash crew) you are on the hook. I always turned them in (with a zip tie thrug the barrel and out the slide.)
Not to be dismissive about farmers, but there are so many stories about how resourceful and hard working and…and…and…about farmers it just turns into a blur.
One farmer girl I shacked up with in WI. would not believe that the engine in her Olds was transversly mounted until I took her out and open the hood and showed her, too stuborn for her own good. What do I know I just the guy filling the bank account with my mechanics work in Milwaukee. She would not believe a word I told her about oversteer and understeer that was brought up while we watched a NASCAR race,some farmer girl.
When my husband’s car had some costly problems that needed to be fixed for example, a broken head gasket and a bad exhaust manifold (both happened at different times) he wasn’t too happy about it either. In my opinion, it doesn’t matter if you are a man or woman, if your car breaks down, you have a good reason to freak out about it. I don’t have a whole lot of car knowledge but since I bought Auto Repair for Dummies (written by Deanna Sclar), the concept of car maintenance and repair has fascinated me. It shows you how to change your oil, flush your cooling system, gives you a breakdown of how a car functions, etc. A few weeks ago, my husband showed me how to change my own oil and I felt more confident with car maintenance after that.
I never wanted to give the impression that I think women can’t perform vehicle maintiance, that would be rediculous (probably a lot in the military) it’s is just that in civilian life they just don’t chose to pursue auto mechanics as a job.
We had a shop here in Tucson, owned by two women and staffed by women in the crew, I just never stopped in to meet anyone.
Men treat each other really brutaly in the shop, very few real fights (but it happens) but heated arguments (lots of swearing) just about everyday, I can’t see the women fitting in. Then there is the strenght thing, waiting for someone to come and help you with something heavy just did not cut it unless absolutely necessary. Those 75lb truck tire tore my back up bad, I hated that part, and jumpimg up and down from the alignment rack was not fun.
My ex-wife was an Army Major so I do know quite a bit about dominant women in power (and she definetly was both), they find a way around the size difference.
Same reason it’s the end of the world when you don’t get your supper on time and can’t find your wallet.
I agree! 
You are correct.
It’s a shame that it is illegal to properly defend oneself in certain states. In a couple of years I will leave this rat hole state I currently reside in and move to a better state.
Women marry men hoping that they’ll change.
Men marry women hoping that they don’t.
Tester
HOLD UP! You are asking us to explain women? Why they act the way they do? I’m deeply concerned that so many men even attempted to answer that question. First off, I don’t think any guy out here is capable of of qualified to explain why women act the way they do. That is only one of the greatest myths of the universe. C’mon, get real. I know much better than even making that attempt.