Give Us Back Our Stuff - By Carol Ann Whitehead
- Carol Ann Whitehead
- Apr 1
- 3 min read
On 21 March 2025 I posted on social media a satirical advert from Ford about a ‘Men Only’ car launched on International Women’s Day
On LinkedIn, thankfully, the moral compass was still intact and common sense prevailed, with the advert gaining traction and being reshared many times.
While responses on X didn’t 'get' that it was satire - many people didn’t even watch the video to the end - they were generally supportive. The following is based on my original post...
Apparently, what the modern man needs right now is a misogynistic space… with wheels - but before you drive off into the testosterone sunset, we’d like a few things back. Because if we’re rolling back progress, let’s do it properly.
Let’s take a look at what the world might look like without the contributions of women. That includes women of all backgrounds—Black women, Indigenous women, women of colour, queer women, disabled women—the ones history rarely credits, but whose work powers the world.
What if we took our stuff back?
No car heaters. Margaret A. Wilcox invented those.
No windshield wipers. Thanks, Mary Anderson.
No Kevlar. That bulletproof vest keeping you safe? That’s Stephanie Kwolek.
No caller ID. Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, a Black physicist and trailblazer, made that happen.
No Monopoly. Originally created by Lizzie Magie as a protest against capitalism—before it was repackaged and sold without her name.
No WiFi or Bluetooth. Hedy Lamarr, Hollywood star and secret tech genius, was behind the frequency-hopping spread spectrum.
Gone. All gone.
Now let’s talk about the UK.
No disposable nappies? Are men bothered by this? Nevertheless Bye-bye. Valerie Hunter Gordon, a Scottish inventor and mum of three, created the very first ones.
No modern computing? Take a bow, Ada Lovelace—the OG coder and daughter of Lord Byron.
No ground-breaking DNA discoveries? Without Rosalind Franklin’s X-ray work, Watson and Crick would still be scratching their heads.
No marine signal flares? Martha Coston developed a pyrotechnic signalling system that saved thousands of lives at sea.
No IVF as we know it? Jean Purdy, a British nurse and embryologist, was co-pioneer of the world’s first test-tube baby—but her name was left off the commemorative plaque for years.
No feeding premature babies with incubators? That’s Dame Janet Vaughan’s wartime nutritional research, which fed directly into neonatal care.
This isn’t just a rant. It’s a reckoning.
With DEI rollbacks happening across the Atlantic and the quiet creep of “common sense” anti-inclusion politics here in the UK, it’s time to make something very clear:
'inclusion isn’t a favour. It’s the acknowledgement of reality.'
Women have always been here, inventing, designing, healing, building. Most of the time, while also raising families, navigating discrimination, and dealing with a monthly hormonal hostage situation.
What have I made, I hear you ask at the back, well I am making my point by collaborating with other women and with human via our campaign 'Amplifying Women’s Voices’.
So before we let nostalgia pull us back to some sepia-toned patriarchy, let’s ask: what would the world look like without women?
Spoiler: It wouldn’t run.
Here’s an idea, maybe instead of building a boys-only car, let’s drive forward together.
Because trust me—you don’t want us to take our stuff back.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Carol Ann Whitehead CMgr CCMI
Carol Ann sit on our advisory Board at human and is Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, an award winning Managing Director and Co-founder of The Zebra Partnership, and is currently
Heritage Operations and Chief of Staff, and Chair of the Public Programming Committee for the historic Portico Library and Newsroom in Manchester.
Carol Ann is a Chartered Manager and Companion of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI). Chair CMI West Midlands and North West and Deputy Chair, CMI Women’s Board.
A monthly BBC Radio Manchester contributor and host of ‘The Whitehead Files’ which is an Oprah styled fireside interview in studio, online or on location available across many platforms.
Carol Ann is passionate about ‘Improving Wiki Diversity’ and has worked with the United Nations Youth Association to increase diversity across Wikipedia. Her awards and accolades include:
Global Goodwill Ambassador status 2109
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Champion in the top 100 Social Media Influencers 2021.
‘Inspiring Women Worldwide’ accolade from the Women’s International Network in Geneva.
Guest lecturer at the University of Manchester
Northern Power Women Power List
Pankhurst Trust Ambassador
‘Citation of Honour, from the GEWE Global Network (Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment) in celebration of Black History Month October 2024
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