The reason why I will not be replaced by a STEM Woman when leaving my job.
I gave my resignation to my company last December. I loved my job, but after 7 years, I am moving on to another sector where I will learn new hard and soft skills.
As a New Market Development leader in the Automotive industry, my job was just great. The automotive sector is undergoing a profound business model change and being an engineer at this moment is very beneficial from a learning perspective. It prepares you for the mobility of the future: connectivity, autonomous driving, shared cars and electrification. The right moment for a STEM person passionate to be in this field.
Besides the usual technical-commercial skills, the job I was holding required soft skills that are usually mastered by STEAM Women. So why will I not be replaced by a women peer?
Here we go: from key historical facts to the current situation…
1. Women and the automotive sector
Historically, it all began with World War I in 1914. Women started filling the jobs as men had gone to war. At that time, the automotive sector badly needed hands in their manufacturing sites to supply the USA and other nations with war vehicles. This is how women started to play major roles in the automotive industry.
However, if we look at the current situation today, only 16% of the global workforce in the automotive industry are women (2018).
2. A small effort to reconcile the gender gap
The percentage of women and their contribution in the automotive industry has improved significantly from 5 to 10 years ago. Still, it feels like we are at the beginning of it.
A few reasons why women should have more functional responsibilities, like P&L, in this sector (data from US:
* Women are more likely to have the final word in a car purchase (for instance women influences 85% of the decision purchase in the family in the USA);
* Women hold more driver’s licenses than men across all age groups (USA)
* As the production lines are being more automated, some previously “heavy” work functions have now become accessible to women.
Having a more balanced gender diversity in this sector will contribute to having more intelligence sources and talent ranges. I believe this will contribute to the competitiveness of the companies.
3. New Market Development: is this a job meant for women?
My job requires a wide range of strategy and intuitive skills as I had to picture the potential activity of the company in the mobility of the future with a horizon of +5 year and beyond.
Besides holding a STEM background: possessing innovation & intuition skills, being able to lead with clarity and impact, empathy, openness and collaboration, defining and planning a goal, are some of the must-haves in this job function. A research made by BI Norwegian Business School (2017) shows that women score better at these traits than men.
I learnt managing business in a complex environment. I had to admit that I had to learn to be OK to demonstrate imperfection in some areas. Personally, it’s difficult for me to engage myself in a topic for which I am not an expert. I learned to focus on the process and vision definition rather than the content.
Before I left, and the function was open, they came to me…
It did not take a long time before my colleagues became aware that I was leaving the company. Actually, some male colleagues came to talk to me directly and asked me if I could recommend them for the job.
I was quite puzzled as my colleagues did not ask much about the skills my function involves or about the details of it. Most of them just assumed by default that they could take this responsibility, no matter the details.
I will be leaving sooner than expected for my new company. It means that we will fill the job as soon as possible (this means internally) with the best possible matching candidate. So this means that there is 99% chances that my successor will be a man.
There were no women who informally came to see me to enquire about the job.
Why? You might say that one possible reason is due to the fact that there is a limited range of choices when it comes to qualified STEM women (remember the 16% rules that apply to our sector?).
I believe that this is also due to the nature of the job and our mindset:
- Very often women are convinced that they aren’t expert enough in an area and prefer to first prove themselves than be proposed the job (the inner critic goes on!)
- Women tend to also to play more formally and will apply once they see the job ad. Well, in my case, there won’t be a job ad… sorry!
So my advice to my STEM women peers: Connect, get yourself heard and inspire others to follow your example!
