8M: the Challenges in the Automotive Industry

It’s no surprise to anyone that the workforce in the automotive industry tends to be more male-dominated. At Inchcape, we not only know this, but we also want to reverse it.

We spoke with Karen Blanco, Vice President of People for Inchcape Americas, who told us about the challenges and opportunities regarding gender equality in the industry.

How has gender equality evolved in this sector?

I joined this industry in 2019 when I joined Inchcape, and from my regional role, I’ve had the opportunity to see how we now have more women in the workforce and how we are taking action to, for example, double the representation of female talent from 15% to 28% globally in 4 years.

An interesting fact we observed is that on average 4 out of 10 car buyers are women, so we need to have better representation in our leadership positions to influence decision-making, but also in other areas of the company, as we are interested in having diverse opinions at all levels of the organization.

The challenge is significant, and we know we have a long way to go, but on a day like today, it’s also important to recognize the growing number of women who have joined Inchcape at all levels each year.

I’ve had the pleasure of seeing more female collaborators in workshops, like Laura Gómez, a mechanic at Jaguar Land Rover in Colombia, and also professionals leading areas that are typically male-dominated, like Karen Madrigal, Head of Heavy Vehicles in Costa Rica, or Pía Vera, our Subaru Manager in Chile.

Why are women important in the industry?

We need to better understand our customers, having greater gender representation in both stores, workshops, and offices. At Inchcape, we want to actively attract, recruit, and develop individuals in all aspects of diversity to reflect our customer base and the communities in which we operate. In most of our major markets, nearly half of our customers are women.

What are Inchcape’s goals in terms of gender equality?

To increase the percentage of women in leadership positions to 35% by 2026 through initiatives that promote an inclusive culture, development, and talent attraction. To empower our female leaders, we have implemented “Women into Leadership,” and based on the positive feedback from participants, we are building the “Aspire Women” program focused on the career development of our female talent at all levels.

The global vision of these programs is to actively attract, recruit, and develop individuals in all aspects of diversity, reflecting our customer base and the communities in which we operate. It should also actively enable each person to feel valued and contribute fully to the company, generating a breadth of contributions, ideas, and thinking for business performance and decision-making. Differences drive ideas and innovation.

WHAT CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES DO YOU IDENTIFY FOR INCHCAPE?

Including more women in the industry is both a challenge and an opportunity. We need to make it attractive to work in this interesting field that offers many opportunities. People teams and leaders have a leading role in this.

There are many opportunities: defining our Inclusion and Diversity plan, including improving our gender equality, using a gender perspective to attract, develop, and retain leaders who select teams giving equal opportunities to women as candidates in processes, implementing programs to empower internal female talent, forging alliances with educational institutions to enhance women’s entry into the industry, among many others.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO WOMEN WHO WANT TO PURSUE A CAREER IN THIS INDUSTRY?

I invite them to learn about Inchcape, its vision for the future of mobility, and how they can have a challenging and interesting career; where they can help shape the future of our company.

We would like more and more women to join our company and help us generate more robust solutions with their ideas, as from diversity of thought, we will achieve better results and organizational climate.

I encourage them to be curious, ambitious, to surround themselves with women who inspire them, and to trust in their talent and in our mobilizing capacity.