To celebrate International Women's Day on 8 March, Auto Express looked at the opportunities and obstacles faced by women in the UK's automotive industry.
Six leading women in automotive, including NFDA Chief Executive Sue Robinson, shared with Auto Express their insights in tandem with International Women’s Day.
Sue Robinson
Chief Executive of the National Franchised Dealers Association
What unique challenges do women face in the automotive industry today?
A number of negative perceptions remain, despite huge improvements in recent years. Businesses have been looking at increasing workplace flexibility, ensuring equal opportunities for all their workforce, and providing support and an open communication channel to raise any concerns that may be affecting a colleague. If you are making an impact, you should progress regardless of gender.
Have you had to fight discrimination in your own career?
Since taking the role of Chief Executive at the NFDA, I have only ever received strong support from dealer chiefs. Having said that, I have experienced comments and discrimination from individuals within the industry who still have obsolete views. I believe this is often the case regardless of the sector where people work; it’s a societal change that needs to happen.
What further changes does the industry need to make?
Franchised dealers have made huge progress to ensure that opportunities are available equally across the board. It’s vital that businesses continue to invest in this to attract and retain the most talented people. There are many initiatives, groups, networks and platforms that are driving these positive changes. Businesses also need to ‘shout’ about the progress they have made, and to highlight advances, many of which people may not be aware of due to preconceptions.
What would you say to women attracted to a career in the industry?
I regularly speak to women who never thought that they could or would want to work in automotive and now, they love their careers. As with everything, there will be challenges, but if you work with passion and determination, the opportunities will offset any obstacles you may face.
Auto Express’ table shows the 2020/21 figures from a range of automotive employers, with both manufacturers and retailers included. That’s why our list is alphabetical, instead of highlighting pay gaps or percentages of highly paid female employees. “It’s clear that gender imbalance is still an issue”, reads the article, “however, the construction, mining and transport industries have even greater imbalances, according to Government figures”.
Employer gender pay by car brand
% difference in hourly pay* | % women in lowest-paid jobs** | % women in highest-paid jobs*** | |
Aston Martin Lagonda | 2.6 | 16.7 | 12 |
Bentley Motors | 6.6 | 16 | 23 |
BMW (UK) | 20.9 | 52 | 25 |
Ford Motor Company | 1.4 | 20.4 | 16.6 |
Honda Motor Europe | 21.2 | 64.4 | 25.3 |
Inchcape Retail | 15.3 | 37.1 | 17.9 |
Jaguar Land Rover | -1.4 | 12.5 | 15.2 |
Listers Group | 17.5 | 24.7 | 14.5 |
Lookers Motor Group | 16.6 | 32.6 | 19 |
Mercedes-Benz Retail Group UK | 17.2 | 32 | 10 |
Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK | 3.1 | 12.2 | 19.3 |
Pendragon PLC | 16 | 24.7 | 11.6 |
Peugeot Citroen Automobiles UK | 25.2 | 58.3 | 14.3 |
Renault Retail Group UK | 18 | 37 | 13 |
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars | 8.2 | 27 | 15 |
Sytner Group Limited | 21.4 | 35 | 16 |
Tesla Motors | -1.9 | 25.6 | 20.1 |
Toyota GB PLC | 25.4 | 65.2 | 20.3 |
Vauxhall Motors | 13.7 | 24.7 | 19.5 |
Volkswagen Group UK | 21.3 | 66 | 29 |
* Mean average of all wages paid by a company – a good overall indication of the gender pay gap. ** Lowest-paid quartile – from four equal-sized groups based on hourly pay. *** Highest-paid quartile
Read the full article here
