By CRM Staff
Toronto, Ontario — February 27, 2018 — Just four years after General Motors became the first OEM to appoint a woman as CEO, an infographic from Just Tyres has revealed that women are underrepresented in the executive ranks of the top ten OEMs. While the news may be disheartening for those in the automotive industry, a Collision Repair investigation has revealed that sincere efforts are being made to ensure gender parity is acheived.
The company with the least overall representation, according to the infographic, is currently Toyota. When Collision Repair reached out for comment, Michael Bouliane, manager of corporate communications for Toyota Canada, made it clear that the issue was one Toyota was making significant headway on resolving, with almost twice the number of women rising to its executive ranks today compared to 2014.
“At Toyota’s global headquarters in Japan, we have 186 women in management positions as of January 2018. We have set targets of achieving three times as many women (303) in management positions in 2020 and five times as many (505) in 2030 compared to 2014 (when there were 101 women in management roles),” said Bouliane.
At the Canadian level, Toyota has already taken great strides towards acheiving parity. “At Toyota Canada (TCI), with an aging workforce that will be changing over in the near future, we’re putting ourselves in a position to have a very diverse leadership group and workforce,” said Bouliane. The company has a workforce that is 30 percent female. According to Just Tyres, women make up only 16 percent of the entire automotive industry. At the senior level, 25 percent of TCI’s directors and 20 percent of its senior executives are women. “TCI is committed to putting the proper strategies in place to develop our workforce diversity.”
While GM CEO Mary Barra’s hiring may have been a watershed moment for women in the automotive industry, GM’s own executive team was not among the most balanced on the list, though exactly 50 percent of its junior executives were women. The highest percentage of female execs goes to Fiat Chrysler, with 38 percent, followed by Volkswagen and BMW who each tally up to 30 percent.
For more information visit justtyres.co.uk.
