ACtion Magazine - January/February 2013 - (Page 16)

Leonard’s Law Keith N. Leonard Esquire Women and technology Businesswomen’s Network (SBN) and Ford Motor Co. to transform a stock 2013 Ford Mustang GT into a show car. The article is largely an interview with Kristin Cline, the woman chosen to lead the interior portion of the transformation, and the founder the Gasoline Girls car club. In the article, Ms. Cline’s response to a question about women in the automotive industry was, “Women have played an important role in the automotive industry for years – but there are still many girls growing up who’d never consider a career in anything car related.” As automobiles have become more technologically advanced than older model years, repairs to, and service of, a car (or at least the diagnosis of what needs to be repaired or serviced) is often more a matter of intellect than one of physical strength. This is not to suggest that an automotive repair technician does not get dirty in the job and does not have to do any lifting. However, (and readers of ACTION Magazine may indicate otherwise), there is probably no repair function on today’s vehicles that a woman cannot perform. I am very comfortable saying that with the number of vehicles on the roads today, there is always a need for qualified automotive technicians. According to figures published by the United States Department of Labor, in 1989 only 6,000 automobile service and repair technicians were women in an industry with 880,000 automobile service and repair technicians. While there were 12,000 women automobile service and repair technicians by 1999, it was still out of a labor force of 837,000 automobile service and repair technicians. However, despite such disparate figures, the author of at least one recent audit study done in Boston has concluded that there was no evidence that a gender bias against women exists in the automobile repairs market. The foregoing figures are not comparable to either the proportion of women within the country’s population, or the influence of women in the marketplace. Presently, women comprise a little more than fifty percent of the population of the United States and estimates by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) and others are that they bring in up to two-thirds of the vehicles brought to repair shops for maintenance and repair work. Thus, women are an important demographic when it comes to the driving and the servicing of vehicles in the United States. Recent data published by the Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association (AASA) shows that women control most of the automotive related decisions for the family. More than eighty-five percent of all automotive sales in households in the United States are influenced by women and women buy sixty percent of all passenger tires. T he Presidential election is over, but as opposed to the 2008 election, neither major political party had a woman as a candidate for president or vice president. Among female voters in the latest election, President Barack Obama was favored by a margin of 56% to 44% over Republican challenger Mitt Romney. However, among male voters, Mitt Romney won by a margin of 54% to 46%. Until very recently, politics (at least on the national level) was viewed by most of the electorate as almost exclusively a man’s place. When I attended law school in the 1970s, the legal profession was still largely a male bastion; though it was changing during the years that I was finishing school. I was therefore curious as to whether or not the automotive industry and in particular the automotive repair industry is a man’s world, as I suspect many of us (including me) think that it is even today. However, then I read an article about the assembling of an all-women team by the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) THE NEW SAE STANDARD: R-1234yf WE’RE READY, ARE YOU? Valve cores and housings sold separately. Reader Reply No.10 16 ACTION • January / February 2013 http://www.schraderinternational.com http://www.schraderinternational.com http://www.macsw.org/MACS/Publications/ACtion_Reader_Reply/MACS/Publications/ACTION/ACtion_Reader_Reply.aspx?hkey=ac24bddb-c045-442a-813c-cbf05f88ac4d

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ACtion Magazine - January/February 2013

ACtion Magazine - January/February 2013
Table of Contents
Outlook
In Bin
Expansion Valve
Technically RELAY-ted
Under The Southern Cross
Leonard’s Law
MACS Letter to Europe
News & Updates
“if I Ever Build a Shop…”
Valves: Oils, Refrigerants – What to Use?
2012 Pioneer Award Honorees
Virtual View
Association News
New Products & Services
Last Watch

ACtion Magazine - January/February 2013