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If you're wondering what to get the woman in your life this Christmas, search no further. Last week, the Jaguar F-Pace was selected the "Supreme Winner" of the Women's World Car of the Year Awards, the only car awards voted on entirely by women. The F-Pace was chosen "Supreme Winner" – which, to be honest, sounds less like a car and more like something Donald Trump will coronate himself in 2018 – by a panel of 17 female judges (two were Canadian) from 14 countries. It beat out 289 other vehicles to win the honour. It also won the awards for Women's World SUV/Crossover.

Judges voted according to the criteria women utilize when buying a car. This includes, according to the Women's World Car Award's website, "safety, value-for-money, aesthetic appearance, storage space, child-friendliness, ease-of-driving, colour, sex appeal and environmental footprint."

The notion that certain genders prefer certain makes of vehicle has been around for a long time. In many respects, it has mirrored the biases found in other realms: Anything that men prefer is considered serious and important and anything that women prefer is considered flighty and inconsequential.

Female car-buyers have traditionally not been shown much respect. In the 1950s, Dodge offered female drivers the "La Femme," an automobile that came with a purse and was available in colours such as "Heather Rose" and "Sapphire White." Today's minivans epitomize the industry's quintessential take on the "female-friendly" car – zero style and all the driving pleasure of a vibrating cactus stuck on four slow-moving wheels.

This has begun to change. Women now represent a huge market. Automobile companies that ignore or condescend to them do so at their peril. A 2014 study by U.S.-based researcher Frost & Sullivan found that, in the United States, women held 51 per cent of driver's licences. While statistics are not currently available, the study predicted that, by 2016, more Canadian women than men would have licences. Women influence 80 per cent of all car purchases, according to a 2014 survey from iSeeCars.com. A 2016 study by Car and Driver found that 23 per cent of women consider themselves "car enthusiasts."

Is there really a need for gender-specific car awards? Is it like having "Best Actress" and "Best Actor" categories at the Oscars? Can acting really be quantified according to gender? Couldn't Brie Larson and Leonardo DiCaprio compete for the same cinematic prize?

When it comes to cars, there are certain obvious differences. Most women, for example, do not mark their midlife crisis by buying a Maserati and having an affair with someone 20 years younger than they are. Women are more likely to mark their midlife crisis by doing a yoga week at Kripalu and having an affair with their friend Shannon, whom they've known for 20 years.

Perhaps when it comes to gender preferences the lines are blurred. Why should we be hemmed in by stereotypes? The Jaguar F-Pace is a fantastic automobile. It has great reviews and is Jaguar's fastest-selling car. I like that it can seat five and has a 650-litre luggage compartment. When I think about its "six powertrains, from the four-cylinder 2.0-litre Ingenium diesel with 129g/km efficiency producing 180PS/430Nm, to the 3.0-litre 380PS supercharged petrol V-6 engine taken from the F-TYPE," I grow faint and feel like a delicate Victorian lady who is about to be overcome by a case of the vapours.

Does this mean I'm less of a man? Does it make me more of a woman?

Actually neither, it makes me the same old dude stuck in a minivan dreaming of what it would be like to own a Jag. And so I say to all those out there sitting behind the wheel of their Women's World Car of the Year Awards "Supreme Winner" Jaguar F-Pace: I don't care how you gender-identify yourself or which restroom you use, just keep living the dream.

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