International Women’s Day 2023
Westwood Celebrates Leading The Way For Equality In The Motor Industry
It’s International Women’s Day, or as we like to call it, ‘Wednesday’. All over the internet today, you’ll see all sort of posts and pages, from all sorts of companies and organisations championing the cause of Women, in fact just what we’re doing right now.
But the difference? At Westwood, we’ll still be doing it tomorrow, next week, next month and in fact all the way through to International Women’s Day 2024, where we’ll do it again but in a different year.
So why are we making a big song and dance about something that, to us, is just business as usual? Simple – it’s because representation matters. It’s important that those of us with a voice speak for those who aren’t being heard, it’s important for those who are leading the way to show that way to others and walk the walk, not just talk the talk. Being an Ally is welcome, but being a vocal Ally is more useful.
This is particularly important in an industry like ours where numerous studies have shown that there’s a distinct gender based disparity in those who work within it.
Happily, at Westwood, we’re very fortunate that we don’t have the stereotypical motor industry, monogendered make-up in our team and we’re stronger for it.
“The only ‘glass ceilings’ here are in our premium cars”
At the time of typing, we’re exceptionally proud to say that across the whole company, we have more or less equal representation, but where it really matters, at Director level in the Boardroom, we have an exact 50/50 male/female split. If we include the next most senior level of leadership, the ladies outnumber the men two to one.
So how did we achieve this enviable balance? We could fib and talk about our fantastic multi step diversity policy, or say how we took a pro-active approach (insert buzzword here), but in truth it’s much more simple than that.
We have a positive, supportive and equitable working environment here at Westwood. There are no ‘fast lanes’ for the favoured, nor are there barriers placed in anyones way. With the UK’s general population and the national makeup of drivers both being more or less evenly split between Men and Women, we’ve achieved a similar balance here at Westwood simply by being a great place to work. The only ‘glass ceilings’ here are in our premium cars.
