There is no single POV around these matters.
In SA it is becoming more common to have female commentators. For some sports and situations more than others. The panel that does the lead in to F1 broadcasts is now led by a woman. We get women calling international cricket matches on the radio (led by Natalie Germanus).
Now, you'd think this would be seen as progress and creating a more level playing field, but a mate of mine's daughter (married, with kids, so not herself a nipper) will have none of it. She says women know nothing about sport, can never know nothing about it, and thus have no part telling others about it and acting like they do know.
White South Africans my age will remember that during apartheid it was always possible to get hold of a black man who would tell you that they liked being able to do their own thing in their own way on their own land and the white man was very nice to them.
Now, whatever you think of these positions, do not imagine that they are the only opinion that anybody might hold, do not imagine that they speak for everybody.
As I pointed out earlier today, what FOM (not FIA) are doing is quite specific, possibly quite limited and leaves several doors still open.
And the person you quote here doesnt seem to be doing quite the same job that is being done away with in F1.
Let's consider the words of another woman in F1 : "Women are not here just to be seen, we are here to be seen and heard and for me that is the most important part of the promo girl debate. We fought to be able to vote, to be able to work, to be able to speak freely -- so let's use that freedom to better the chances of future generations of girls and women.... Give these girls a voice and suddenly I don't have such an issue with their use. Let them become brand ambassadors and not just mute, pretty things to be stared at, but as the girls are currently used they don't have a personality, they don't have any freedom to interact with either the crowds or the stars of the show, the drivers. They are just stood holding a flag pole, looking gorgeous.
"Surely we have moved on from women just having to look good to get on in life? Sure it must help to have 36DD's and a waist synched in naturally rather than with spanks and bum lifting leggings but is the message we send out to the next generation really one that says men are the daredevil drivers while women are the trophy girls?"
Jennie Gow, writing for ESPN.
http://kwese.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/22282846/why-f1-made-right-decision-grid-girls
What she's saying she finds acceptable sounds a lot like what the person you quote does. She doesnt just stand on her mark with a number, not engaging with anybody. She's a representative.
The difference, i think, is that one role, the one that F1 are getting rid of is passive and purely decorative. The other is active and involves communication and the representative has a voice and is allowed to be a person.
There's also the growing female presence in F1. Its not a man's man's world so much. Roles are changing. The world is changing.
In an F1 in which Claire Williams runs a team on race weekends, Ruth Buscombe makes strategy calls and Merc and Red Bull have both had woman engineers on the podium, having women hanging around like some sort of dumb decoration, standing where they're told, clapping when they're told, gets increasingly incongruous.