As a male, I can't begin to imagine the many hardships that go along with being a woman. Under-wire bras, various forms of painful hair removal, and uncomfortable shoes are just a few of the things many women endure to fit our culture's current definition of beauty. Uncomfortable shoes, however, can cause more than just blisters. Stilettos, sling-backs, strappy sandals and driving barefoot can sometimes cause car accidents because wearing fashionable footwear often conflicts with using a good driving shoe.

Enter Sheilas' Wheels, a car insurer for women in the UK that has developed the Sheila Driving Heel. Quite a little marvel of design, the Sheila Driving Heel features a tall heel that folds forward into the shoe's sole at the touch of a button (we couldn't find the button in the pic above, though). This turns the pump into a flat that's much better suited to the rigors of driving. In addition to hiding the heel, Sheila's shoes feature discrete tread on their soles that gives a woman's heel some grip, which we suppose is helpful when performing a double-clutch shift and the like. We're not sure how attractive the patent leather black with hot pink trim will be to the Sheila Driving Heel's intended market, but we've also never claimed to know anything about its intended market, so who knows?

There's no word on pricing or availability, and the Sheilas' Wheels website only contains the press release for the Sheila Driving Heel, which we've pasted after the jump. We waited almost a week for them to send us a pic of the shoes, as their description was more than our imagination could conjure, so we're not expecting more info to be forthcoming.

[Source: ILoveSheilas.com]