For many years there have been calls to find ways to employ more women in garages. And it’s a problem made worse by increasing shortages of workers in the sector.
In June, The Engineer wrote that “currently there are an estimated 23,000 job vacancies for skilled workers in the motor trade. On top of that, an ageing workforce means that around 19% of automotive manufacturing workers are … approaching retirement.”
But as for women, back in 2016, the IMI commented that just one percent of technicians were female and that the sector had to “employ more women or risk missing out on millions of pounds.” A survey then saw 96% of women wanting to deal with female mechanics and 31% worried about repairs through fear of conned by men.
While things have improved somewhat, Emma Carrigy, Head of Research, Careers and Inclusion at the IMI, told CAT that now just 18.6% of the sector’s overall workforce are women and that “female representation is particularly low in technical roles – only 11.3% in maintenance and repair of motor vehicles.”
She sees “outdated perceptions” as being a key reason for this and that many women “don’t realise today’s workshops are technology-rich, clean environments with strong career progression.”
Yes, sexism and bias still exists, but Carrigy thinks the bigger issue is lack of awareness – “women simply aren’t hearing enough about the sector’s opportunities early enough.”
And this is borne out by The Engineer which said that “outside perceptions of the male-dominated sector (86% male) may be further limiting the recruitment pool.”
This why Carrigy points to the IMI’s ‘There’s More to Motor’ campaign that launched in August 2023. And it seems to be working; the body highlighted in March 2024 that it received 5.3m clicks and over 2000 people taken to recruitment sites.
The desire to see more women in the sector is favoured by Karen Gallagher, a director of two Cornwall-based garages - North Country Garage and Sevenmilestone Garage.
Her garage has employed female mechanics in the past and currently has a mechanic / MOT tester “that has worked for us for many years and is an asset to the team.”
As she sees it, while schools and colleges have always been very supportive of any females she has employed, and the government has legislation in place to protect employees, “the motor industry as a whole still appears to prefer men as mechanics.”
Notably, she’s never had customers with a problem dealing with a female mechanic.
And there are others who support her view including Mark Davison, development director of North London Garages, a London-based training organisation.
He thinks it “important to have equality and diversity” so that female customers can, if they choose, discuss their car with a female mechanic.
While the IMI has seen change occur in terms of the number of women employed, so has Davison. He details how the landscape has changed much since the 1990s when he completed his apprenticeship.
But the problem is that there is a shortage of skilled workers in automotive. In fact, Davison reckons that there’s a shortage generally in trades where digital is not involved.
This is why his organisation “encourages women to come into the sector.” And he’s seeing female engagement rates improve: “it's probably a good 12%, and increasing, of females to males.” He thinks this will increase in time.
Part of the solution is government.
Labour has taken steps by creating Skills England “to transform opportunities and drive growth… to bring together key partners to meet the skills needs of the next decade across all regions”.
Under the old regime - pre-June 2025 – there was serious fragmentation in skills strategy with multiple organisations and regulators and various forms of funding. The result was skills mismatches of people and jobs.
Skills England has now taken over the functions of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education. And there’s also a new Growth and Skills Levy that has replaced the Apprenticeship Levy to “allow employers to access a wider range of training with their funding.”
Ultimately, as Davison sums up, Skills England may promote the sector, but garages need to “make the roles more appealing to people that want to enter, regardless of their gender.”
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