Automotive News Canada - January 2020 - v2 - 15

* JANUARY 2020

Progress, to a point
Panelists feel
encouraged despite
difficulties with diversity
By JOHN IRWIN
TORONTO BUREAU

TORONTO - A PANEL OF 15 women
auto executives and officials said
attracting more women to sales, service, engineering and other areas
means battling auto industry stigmas
as well as gender biases.
Speaking at the Automotive
News Canada Leading Women
Panel in Toronto, Sherryl
Petricevic, marketing manager at ESCRYPT, said the
industry should re-examine
how it markets and messages itself to the public. She said
the term "automotive industry" often
brings to mind images of strikes and
dirty factories rather than the hightech sector it is becoming, thus limiting the number of people who might
be interested in it.
"Is automotive really even what
we're moving to, or is it mobility?"
Many of the panelists described difficult experiences in the male-dominated auto industry, such as being the
only woman in a boardroom or classroom and being subjected to sexist
remarks. They said attracting more
women to the industry is crucial to
its viability and companies' long-term
profitability. And many expressed
optimism that change is afoot as more
women enter positions of power.

ON THE AUTO INDUSTRY'S
MALE-DOMINATED CULTURE
Shelley Fellows, vice-president of
communications, AIS Technologies
Group: "It was and still is completely normal for me to walk into a meet-

1,100 new-vehicle dealers in the province, declined to comment on the
study, saying it was proprietary.
The survey, obtained by Automotive
News Canada, also found that women
made up 36 per cent of finance and
insurance managers, unchanged from
2016. Women accounted for just 24 per
cent of service advisers, up slightly
from 21 per cent in 2016.
And one per cent of auto service
technicians were female.
However, 17 per cent of respondents
had a female service technician on
staff in 2018, up from zero per cent two
years earlier.
The study comes as the industry
grapples with a chronic shortage of
skilled labour as well as rapid technological change.
It also found that finance and insurance managers make 5.5 per cent less
than their male counterparts, female
service advisers make 11 per cent less
and female sales consultants make 14
per cent less.
The average 2018 compensation
for all female employees was $62,110
versus $79,569 for men. It is lower
"because nearly 50 per cent of women
in dealerships work in hourly positions at an average rate of $14.90 per
hour," the survey said.

'DEMORALIZING'
Tanya van Biesen, executive director of Catalyst Canada, an organiza-

ing, walk into a conference or a seminar, and I'll be the only woman in the
room. There are some side benefits to
that. You get noticed, people allow you
to have a voice at the table. There's
no lineups for the restroom. But the
downside is we have to fight every
single day to be acknowledged for our
capabilities, our knowledge."
Henna Agha, senior sector adviser at the Ontario Ministry of Economic
Development, Job Creation and Trade:
"I left auto. I have three children, and
at a certain point, working in a
male-only industry was tough
because I was the only one taking [maternity] leaves. It's not
culturally encouraged for men,
even though it's their legal
right to take a paternity leave.
Men who took paternity leaves
were moved to the outer edges
of the office, where there's less light
and no work. Not constructive dismissal, but not encouraging them, because
they're being punished for being on
paternity leave."

ON GETTING MORE GIRLS INTERESTED
IN STEM AND AUTOMOTIVE CAREERS
Mona Eghanian, automotive and
mobility senior manager, Ontario
Centres of Excellence: "It starts earlier than school. Even when kids
are young, what types of toys kids
play with shapes the kinds of things
they're interested in."
Manon Messier, mergers and acquisitions associate, Dealer Solutions: "We
need to reach out to the parents. The
parents need to coach their kids and
we need to coach the parents to open
the eyes of their kids more on what
is available. We are surrounded by
families around us. I am surrounded by 800 dealerships around me [in
Quebec]. Why not reach out to them
and tell them that we need parents

tion that works to address the concerns of women in business, said
female employees in the auto sector
report higher levels of bias than those
working in other types of jobs.
Women who work in the sector
"talk about high rates of sexism, they
talk about high rates of sexual harassment, they talk about being given
lower-level and less impactful assignments than men which, for anybody
that has a brain and some ambition,
becomes demoralizing over time,"
van Biesen said in a phone interview.
Those are all issues that could
chase women out of the industry or
convince young women to stay away
from it, said van Biesen.
As for the compensation gap, she
said, it is something that exists in all
industries across the country.

WHERE WOMEN ARE 'AMAZING'
At Hunt Club Volkswagen, a
woman manages the 13 technicians in
the service shop. Two of the three service advisers are women. So is one of
the five sales staff.
"These young women in our service
department are amazing" said Bell.
"They astonish me every day, the way
that they treat people like it's their
mom and their dad."
And the saleswoman often outperforms her male co-workers, said Bell.
"She was the top salesperson several
times in 2019."

Participants on the Leading Women Panel expressed optimism - and
exasperation - over the auto industry's encouragement of women.

to reach out to their children and be
open to automotive opportunities?"
Maria Soklis, president, Cox
Automotive
Canada: "I
think it's really important
that the education system start
enforcing nontraditional roles
with the books,
with the material that they're
reading. And I
Ikjot Saini,
think it's importan expert in
ant that the eduautomotive
cation system
cybersecurity
starts very, very
who studied
young in helping
computer science
socialize young
at the University
girls and boys
of Windsor, said
that you don't
women continue
to be a minority in have to grow up
in a traditional
STEM programs.
role socially or
PHOTO VIA
IKJOT SAINI
academically."
Cara
Clairman, CEO, Plug 'N Drive: "We
usually start talking to kids about

their career opportunities around
Grade 12. It's too late. A lot of those
girls are out of it already because
they're not doing science."

ON MENTORS
Diane Wang, independent adviser, SAIC Ventures: "I was one of two
female executives maybe among 10
males. So, I work with the female
executive very well, and she was
some kind of mentor for me. That's
happened for me a lot, because a lot
of times, you just need somebody to
encourage you."
Ikjot Saini, president, Women in
Cybersecurity, University of Windsor:
"I didn't have any role models. I was
always choosing these kinds of topics
that I'm working on, and I was always
discouraged from doing it. Even my
profs used to say, 'You'll be the only
[woman] in the class, are you OK with
that?' I would say, 'I really want to do
it, even if I'm the only one in the class,
I don't mind it.' That's been the struggle in academia. There is no connection between education and industry,
so [women] don't even know if they
do this then they can do that." - ANC

She eventually was promoted
At Charlottetown Mitsubishi,
to business manager. And "then I
Tammy Roach markets the fact that
thought, if I want to do anything in
she is the only woman dealer principal on Prince Edward Island - and it's the car business, I have to go out to
sell," she said. Bell has since worked
paying dividends for her store.
at two other dealerships and
"I use the fact that I'm a
was promoted, first to sales
woman in almost all of my
manager and then to general
advertising," said Roach.
manager.
"It's really important to my
Some of the traditionalcustomers, and it shocks me
ly feminine traits of nursing
every day how many women
were her secret weapons in
come through the door and
auto sales, she said. "Tender
tell me all the horrific stories
loving care was a huge influthey've had at dealerships.
ence in people's recovery,"
The public is demandsaid Bell. "And I have dising that dealerships become
Charlottetown
covered that tender loving
more diverse because cusMitsubishi's
care solves a lot of problems
tomers generally feel more
in car dealerships, too."
comfortable if they see people Tammy Roach
touts that
In addition, she said, cuslike them among the store's
tomers tend to trust women
employees, she said. Of her 10 she's the only
woman
dealer
more than they do men.
employees, four are women.
principal on
"So, can we use that to our
To create a better genPrince Edward
advantage? Absolutely."
der balance, "as managers,
Island.
Women, she added, are
we need to provide environFILE PHOTO
better listeners and less
ments for women to feel safe
intimidating.
to work in," Roach said, adding, "We
"Women are able to take the stress
have to hire men who are also respectout of the [buying] process, and cusful of women."
tomers relax and become more com'TENDER LOVING CARE'
fortable with the process much quicker," she said. "The public tells me all
Bell landed her first job in the auto
the time that they love seeing women
business after moving from the United
in the car business, women [who
Kingdom in 1980. Her nursing records
make most of the big buying decifrom Britain were lost in the mail
sions] like dealing with women."
during a postal strike so she went to
- ANC
work as a payroll clerk at a dealership.

Automotive News Canada - January 2020 - v2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Canada - January 2020 - v2