Before all the female agents jump down my throat about this, let me explain. There is a reason for this, and it is preventable.

Of course, the common reason does not involve an open flame, which is obviously ridiculous.

It turns out women are more likely to get back in the car to wait while the gas is pumping. Also, women's clothes are more likely to be made of static-producing fabric like rayon, nylon or silk. So the woman gets out of the car when the gas is done, her clothes brushing on the seat and generating a static charge as she does so, and then she goes to reach for the pump nozzle, where the gas fumes are still dissipating, and she may draw a spark large enough to start the festivities.

The take-home message is, everyone should touch metal distant from the nozzle, such as some exposed metal on the pump station itself, to ground themselves before reaching to take the nozzle from their car.