Since the dawn of the car, women have played a crucial – but often unsung – role in the automotive industry. And even today, more than 100 years after the first car was invented, women remain significantly under-represented across the sector.
That’s where initiatives such as Autocar Great Women – and its sponsor, Nissan – are making a change.
What is Autocar Great Women?
Autocar Great Women celebrates women within the automotive sector, annually switching focus between up-and-coming talent – as part of Autocar Great Women: Rising Stars – and the leaders who now command the greatest influence within their chosen fields.
At this year’s Autocar Great Women ceremony – on Tuesday 30 April – the auto industry’s top 100 women will be named by Autocar and its panel of expert judges, based on their seniority and level of influence. This will cover categories including Marketing, Retail, Vehicle Development and Manufacturing. Then, an overall winner will be crowned – joining a long list of esteemed previous winners.
How is Nissan championing change in the industry?
Nissan, which has sponsored Autocar Great Women for seven years, strongly believes in the benefits afforded by greater diversity across the motor industry.
For a number of years, Nissan has been working on its own initiatives to encourage more women to pursue automotive careers. This includes the Nissan Skills Foundation – a scheme to get young people interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) – which has reached more than 85,000 school-aged children globally to date.
Within this scheme sits a program called GIMME (Girls in Monozukuri, Manufacturing and Engineering) in which existing female automotive stars present the virtues of a career in the industry to the next generation of budding female talent.
Through programs like these, and continued focus on diversity and inclusion, Nissan aims to increase the number of women in senior positions within the company in the coming years.
