Closing the automotive gender gap

“Equality” – such an emotive word, isn’t it? It’s something that we should all be entitled to from birth and in whatever walk of life, yet the gender gap in the workplace, and specifically in the automotive sector, still has a long way to go.

Research from global mobility brand Lynk & Co and global market and consumer data analyst Statista, compared gender ratios from some of the world’s leading automotive manufacturers and found that the industry has large equality gaps. On average, automotive brands are 15% female, with numbers ranging from 30% at the top and 2% at the very low end.

Vice-president PR and communication Europe at Lynk & Co, Telma Negreiros: “Equality within the workplace should not just be a goal or a target, what we have found is that it is absolutely critical to the growth and productivity of a company. If people are held back, then we shall never move forward as an industry.”

It’s our job as an industry to debunk dated thoughts around automotive being for men or it being a dirty job to work in a bodyshop and attract talent, whatever the gender. And, once we are shown interest from said talent, pave the way for them to thrive as the next generation and not show them the door.

Automotive 30% Club founder Julia Muir said: “Since founding the club in 2016, I have seen great progress being made by many of our Automotive 30% Club members to improve the level of female representation in their organisations, because they know that gender balanced, and inclusive businesses are more successful.”

To read more, visit bodyshop’s October issue.