Women are becoming high-level managers in Europe, entrepreneurs in Asia and mechanics in Africa. The more globalization changes the world, the more it liberates women from traditional roles. But what are they doing with the opportunity?

Sandra Aguebor fell in love with a black machine and oil, and for an entire week she dreamed of repairing cars. She woke up one morning at 4 o’clock and told her father and mother about her dream. They told her to forget about it. But even after she turned 14, Sandra continued to pester her father. She was born in Benin City, Nigeria, and there had never been a mechanic in the family, which supported itself by farming a small plot of land.

Sandra became the first woman to work as an auto mechanic in Nigeria, she says. She also learned to train other women to be mechanics, calling her project the “Lady Mechanic Initiative.” Now she’s come to Deauville to talk about it. Aguebor, a dynamic woman in jeans and a bright yellow T-shirt, stands out among the 1,100 women in Deauville. Not many look as though they had ever felt engine oil on their hands.

Kaye Morgan

I love being in my fifties! Smack in the middle of the baby boomer generation of women; a generation of women unlike any other. A group of women not ready to move over, lie down or let life pass them by sitting in a rocking chair.

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