Where are the women at the Detroit auto show?

Tanya Wildt
Detroit Free Press

Men in suits stand huddled together on the North American International Auto Show floor shaking hands and making pleasantries. They travel in packs throughout Cobo Center during media preview days in Detroit.

There’s no shortage of men at the Detroit auto show.

Women, however, appear to be in short supply. 

A group gathers on the North American International Auto Show floor Monday, Jan. 14, 2019, at Cobo Center in Detroit.

For an industry that has been pushing for more female executives and more women in manufacturing and technology industries, the 2019 Detroit auto show is evidence there’s still work to be done.

Last year, Scotty Reiss, founder of agirlsguidetocars.com, a website that coaches women on car ownership issues, said women represent about 27 percent of people working in automotive professions despite the fact that they make or influence 85 percent of all car purchases.

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The auto industry has been vocal about its desire to hire more women. Women who can relate to what other women want from cars. Companies know without them it's like not thinking to include short people on a team designing cars for short drivers. It doesn't make a lot of sense.

And it’s just not the auto industry that appears to have a gender problem at the auto show. The media room is mostly male. 

North American International Auto Show attendees inside the media center Monday, Jan. 14, 2019, at Cobo Center in Detroit.

 

On Tuesday, there were about 300 people in the auto show media center. I counted about 40 women among them.

Spotting a woman at the show definitely isn’t a unicorn moment, but as a woman moving around the venue, I really feel the imbalance at times.

So where are these women the auto industry has been recruiting? Do they really exist? Did they stay back at headquarters while the men hit the road to Detroit?

A group gathers on the North American International Auto Show floor Monday, Jan. 14, 2019, at Cobo Center in Detroit.

If more women are being hired, why not make sure they're visible at events like the Detroit auto show?

I overheard another auto show attendee talk about how sparse the attendance was this year. He reminisced about the days when you would have to arrive 30 minutes early to a vehicle reveal if you wanted a seat.

This year, the empty seats were plentiful minutes before the Lexus reveal I attended.

Plenty of empty seats waiting for women to fill them.