Did women drive cars in the 1800s?

Answer 1

That is a very broad question. I can only answer for society in the U.S. Circumstances varied widely for women in different parts of the world as they do today.

Women in the U.S. were not granted the right to vote until 1920. In the 1800s woman's personal independence depended greatly on their personal circumstances and location. Only a quick overview is possible, otherwise, you have a book.

Certainly, the most extreme examples are the enslavement of women in that century, and Native American women and their families being forced on to reservations and basically depriving them of a means of providing for their families. There were armies of woman who worked as cheap labor in factories through the growth of industry in the 1800s; large numbers of plains settlers working fields, raising stock, and building their homes side by side with the men; the pampered families on the east coast (and else where) as industries, railroads, and slave supported industries made people wealthy. Then there were the waves of immigrants that didn't concern themselves as much with independence, it was a degree of independence just to get here, as with feeding their families and getting established.

There were many other specific groups as well as the ordinary middle class who had been established in their own areas and whose circumstances were personal and specific to themselves and the segment or strata of society that they occupied.

Then you throw the Civil War into the middle of this century, and many circumstances change and turn around. Thousands of men left home and woman were responsible for everything at home. After the war, so many men never came home; the status of slaves changed; proliferation of industry ramped up and needed more cheap labor. Many, who had been well off found themselves not so well off; some of the poor did much better in the changing time; the immigrants kept coming; the Native Americans were still trapped in the same circumstances; and the population of the plains and the west coast grew rapidly. The independence of women varied as greatly throughout the 1800s as the times and the places they found themselves.

Answer 2

Not usually. It wasn't until the very end of the 1800's that cars were even available and they were dangerous pieces of machinery.