Survey Shows Sexism Is Still Alive in the Auto Industry

Automotive News has published the results of a survey it commissioned this spring concerning sexism experienced by women working in the automotive industry.

It’s a coincidence, of course, but it’s interesting timing in the wake of the sexual harassment conversation taking place in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein allegations. One refrain I’ve seen banded about is something like “this doesn’t just happen with powerful people in Hollywood, but in every industry.”

This survey would appear to indicate that the automotive industry is not immune, and personal observational experience from my time in the industry — especially my time in the dealer world — backs that up.

Obviously I’m not a woman, so I can’t imagine what women go through. But I have working eyes and ears, and I heard comments that were absolutely over the line. I was also later told stories about same.

I will let you go read the whole thing, but as a former dealership employee, all I can say is that AN is quantifying something many of us in the industry are aware of.

The story does suggest that some men are clueless when it comes to sexist behavior, and while I don’t doubt that, I suspect many of us in this industry have either experienced or seen harassing behavior, or have heard stories of such. I can’t get into details of what I witnessed and heard about during my time in the dealer world, but it’s safe to say it runs the gamut from off-color jokes to actions that got people fired.

Misogyny wasn’t the only issue – I saw some serious transphobia firsthand when a co-worker transitioned from male to female. Her abilities to diagnose engine troubles in a car became less important to some of her fellow techs than whether she changed into pants or a dress after work.

I don’t have much to add to the Automotive News piece – others have written far more eloquently on the subject than I can. The piece does end on a semi-hopeful note, with a suggestion that things have improved in the past 30 years. That very well may be – it’s been almost exactly a decade since I left that world behind, so I wouldn’t have first-hand knowledge of whether the workplace experience has improved for women.

If you’re wondering why I didn’t stick up for others, well, in some cases I heard about an incident well after it happened – and I wasn’t present for the incident. In other cases, I was too young, too junior in title, and too nice to tell a veteran co-worker twice my age that what they were saying was inappropriate.

I don’t think it’s controversial to say the automotive industry has a problem here that needs to be addressed, nor do I think it’s controversial to say that a conversation about improving needs to be had. Surely, most reasonable people can agree on that, regardless of their own politics or experiences.

That may be naïve, but I am an optimist at heart. Hopefully the numbers will have something much more positive to say the next time a survey like this is commissioned.