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As you know, the Women's Automotive Associaton International supports women from all sides of the automotive industry including racing. For the third year in a row, we are proud to support Lyn St. James, a board member, and her "Women in the Winner's Circle" luncheon in Indianapolis on July 24th. The event honors the many women and girls in motorsports who have participated in Lyn's world-famous WWC Driver Development Program. |
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WAAI Summer BLOCKBUSTERS: Speed and Social Networking! This summer, the WAAI launched our much anticipated Social Networking Website - thewaai.ning.com! On the site, members can create profiles, search other members profiles, watch videos posted by members, start discussion forums, see upcoming events, create groups and MUCH more!
Also this summer, we will be holding our second annual WAAI Speed Networking Happy Hour in cooperation with onecommand and additional sponsorships from DealerSocket, R.L. Polk & Co. and Dealercentric Solutions, Inc. The event, which is held the night before the start of the ENG Automotive CRM Summit, is open to WAAI Members and non-members. Last year this event was a smash hit and WAAI members got to network with men and women from all around the automotive industry and Michael Baker from the Bob Baker Group even won an iPod Nano thanks to Century Interactive. This year, we will b |
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From the Desk of the WAAI President: Help Wanted? Hire More Women! Though women make up more than half the U.S. population and buy more than half the new vehicles purchased in this country, their representation as employees in dealerships remains disproportionately small. Several years ago General Motors launched a program to boost the number of female-owned dealerships. Currently, 267 are owned by women, which is slightly more than 8 percent. Among Ford brands, 358, or 7.4 percent, of dealerships are owned by women. Female owners, however, tend to run more successful dealerships, industry officials say Women hold about 7 percent of all jobs in dealerships, according to CNW Marketing Research. But while women account for 60 percent of the office staff, they fill only 7.1 percent of the general manager roles and 4.9 percent of the ownership positions, numbers that haven't changed much in the last decade. Acknowledging the importance of women in the marketplace, automakers have long been rethinking how they design vehicles. But automakers' efforts to raise the number of dealers who are women have proved inadequate. Of General Motors' 7,400 dealerships, 226, or 3 percent, are owned by women. At Ford Motor, women own 278, or 5 percent, of the 5,165 dealerships. It's much the same for other automakers. The retail car business, like many others, has long been a father-son story. Sons took over dealerships as their fathers retired or died, and showrooms and service bays looked much the same for a century, with few women or members of minorities. Then, if sometimes only by circumstance, a few women started inheriting dealerships from their fathers or, increasingly, from their husbands, and it appeared that time was finally marching on. But only some women have advanced in the auto dealer business beyond that -- by ascending to management jobs that put them in the line of succession to run a dealership, or by coming up with the money to buy one. Women who own dealerships tend to do well, and several manufacturers report that franchises owned by women are at or near the top in overall sales volume. Some dealers and industry analysts have an explanation for that. The reason women become so successful is they are interested in treating women right when they come in. CNW says 39 percent of women would rather deal with women in the car showroom, compared with 10 percent of men who prefer to buy cars from other men. On the flip side, 13 percent of women prefer to deal with men, and 11 percent of men want to deal with women. The rest are indifferent about the sales representative's sex. The National Automobile Dealers Association estimates there are more than 100,000 jobs available at 20,000 dealerships across the nation. How do dealerships attract and hire more women to fill these vacancies? It should not "take a special kind of women" to handle working at a car dealership, in my opinion. Long hours and almost total lack of flexibility are obstacles to many women, especially those who want to work part time because of family or child-care conflicts. Compare the auto-dealer numbers with those in real estate, which requires night and weekend work but also is highly flexible: about 60 percent of real estate offices are owned by women. For car dealerships to attract more women, they need to establish and enforce best practice HR policy, provide a female friendly culture, environment and policies that will make these job opportunities more attractive. If the dealers are eager to hire more women, it might be a good idea to staff up the dealer management with women so that policies that women employees favor are practiced. Smart dealerships can provide flex schedules and day care support programs to attract these highly qualified women to apply and retain them. Please send me your thoughts on this topic to jdevere@askpatty.com. Jody DeVere |
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Do you know someone who deserves a Professional Achievement Award? Every year, the WAAI honors one woman deserving of the Professional Achievement Award. In years past, recipients have included Indy car driver, Lyn St. James, Pamela Rodgers of Rodgers Chevrolet, Lynn Myers from General Motors and Irma Elder of Elder Automotive Group. |
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I would like to say a special thanks to our new eNewsletter partner - SystemWorks marketing. They are doing the newsletters for us gratis and since we are a non-profit association, these are the kind of partnerships we love! |
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e doing a drawing for a $200 Visa Gift Card, so be sure to bring an extra business card! 
. Although just 8 percent of all U.S. car dealerships are owned by women, those stores average a higher rate of sales than those owned by men.