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The Girl Next DoorPosted 5/16/2001By Michelle Winn
As someone who has only been a technician since 1994, it's hard for me to speak about the changes in the last 50 years, but I will talk a little about what it's been like to be a female technician during my short time in the business. I began my automotive career working as a secretary for a tire and lube shop. In that capacity, I didn't feel like I was doing anything unusual. Sure, I was working in a service shop, but I was filling a traditional role as a secretary. When I started going to technical school, I realized things were different. During my 15-month program, I was one of only four women in the school. Still, things didn't really seem all that strange. It wasn't until I started working as a technician in a shop that I realized how “different” everyone thought I was. I started getting questions like, “So, what got you interested in this business?” or “Did you have to go to school to learn how to work on cars?” and my favorite is “So, do you know what you're doing?” For some reason when I tell someone I'm an auto technician, they always say, “Do you actually work on cars?” I began wondering how “strange” I was, so I did a little research. (Let's look at the chart below.)
We all know that our industry is in desperate need of new technicians. As shown in the chart above, from 1990 to 1997 the total number of people employed as technicians jumped only 43,000, which translates to around 5 percent growth - not a surprise for shop owners who are constantly searching for technicians. However, during the same seven years, the number of women grew by 5,389, which translates to a whopping 44 percent growth! So in 1997, approximately 1.5 percent of all automotive technicians were female. What do the next 50 years have in store for us? If the number of female technicians continues to grow at the same rate, by the year 2054 approximately 12 percent of all automotive technicians will be female. Just think, guys, if you work in a shop with 10 technicians, chances are at least one of them will be female! If the number of female technicians continues to rise at such a drastic rate, I think we can draw several other conclusions. Shop owners across the country may find themselves interviewing and even hiring a young woman someday. In the not-so-distant future, the most qualified and experienced “man” for the job may be a woman. Technicians working in the field who say a “girl” can't do this type of work need to realize they may end up turning wrenches right beside a woman in the near future. Sure, there are things that she may not be able to do, but think of all the times you could have used her small arms and hands to get into a tight space or pick up a bolt you dropped. If you work together, think how easy things could be for both of you. Finally, to young women considering automotive technician as a career, these numbers prove that as each year passes, female technicians will become less and less an oddity and more and more the standard. Like it or not, women in the automotive industry have been one of the major changes in the automotive industry the past 50 years. We're here to stay and the numbers prove it!
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Copyright (c) 1996-2008. Automotive Service Association. All rights reserved.
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The girl next door may now be the one to service your vehicle! Wow, have times changed! First they let us vote, then we started working outside the home and now they're letting us work on cars!
