Nissan Motor Co. aims to boost the percentage of women in management by 2023 to a level that stands out within Japan’s male-dominated auto industry, though its chief sustainability officer said there’s still far more room for improvement.
The Japanese automaker is seeking to increase its ratio of female managers in Japan to 13 percent by 2023, up from roughly 10 percent this year. Globally, the company is targeting 16 percent female managers by the same year.
Among Japanese automotive industry manufacturers with 1,000 or more employees, about 4.7 percent of managers are women. As of 2018, women made up less than 2 percent of managers at Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co.
- NORTH AMERICAN PROMOTION: Keri Floyd Kelly was named director of diversity, equity and inclusion at Nissan North America this summer. She previously was senior manager, Americas diversity office.
Lynk & Co, the Swedish car-sharing joint venture between Geely Auto Group and Volvo Car Group, is pledging to achieve a 50-50 gender split across the company by the end of 2021 and an equal split in management positions by the end of 2023.
According to research conducted by Lynk & Co and consumer data analysis firm Statista, 15 percent of employees at 43 automotive manufacturers and suppliers are women, with numbers ranging from 30 percent at the top and 2 percent at the low end, the company said in a press release. The research found that management teams are 11 percent female and boards of directors are 18 percent female.
Lynk & Co, which has launched in China and Europe and plans to expand in other markets including North America, says 45 percent of its team is female; 33 percent of management is female; and the board has an even split.
“The gatekeepers of the automotive industry have excluded women, and pretty much anyone that isn’t a straight white man, for too long,” CEO Alain Visser said in the release. “Lynk & Co is committed to changing that.”
The Advance Auto Parts Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the aftermarket parts supplier, has pledged $200,000 in a partnership with Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh, N.C., for a recruitment initiative aimed at increasing student diversity in the school’s automotive systems technology and collision repair programs. Additionally, it committed $50,000 in funding to outfit the school’s tool rooms to support student learning.
— Compiled from Bloomberg and staff reports