It’s entirely possible that the top automotive news story of 2022 has already happened: GM Canada hired 1,200 people to reboot the Oshawa Assembly Plant, and about half were women.
Gender parity in the auto industry seemed impossible just one short year ago when, in this very space, I wrestled with distressing survey information that indicated 64 per cent of women don’t consider the auto industry because they don’t see other women in the auto industry.
That would mean that any job openings at a male-dominated dealership or supplier or factory would likely be filled by another male.
I wrote: “Ergo, if it takes women in the auto industry to attract women to the auto industry, then how do you bring women into an industry with few women?”
Well, GM figured out the how: Start with a blank slate.