women in automotive
Increasing female workforce participation in the automotive sector.
Women in Auto came as a three-year diagnostic and pilot initiative, funded by the Gates Foundation and led by Good Business Lab in partnership with leading auto firms including Mahindra & Mahindra and AIS, in close collaboration with ACMA and SIAM, to identify and test low-cost, deployable solutions to the structural barriers limiting women's participation in India's auto sector.
recruitment
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workplace integration and retention
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skill signalling and portability
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night-shift participation
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diversity in the automotive industry today
Recruitment:
1. Only 4% of women in the industry hold a diploma or certificate in the trade, against 23% of men. (already in use)
2. Only 27–28% of women surveyed in NCR — and as low as 22% in parts of Bangalore — were even aware that automotive firms hire women. (GBL scoping surveys, 2024)
Integration and Retention
1. Women are concentrated in technician (14%) and clerical (11%) roles but hold fewer than 3% of CXO positions across India's top automotive firms. (already in use)
2. Only about 37% of auto-component firms provide onsite daycare, even though many already employ enough women to trigger the legal requirement for it. (GBL survey of 208 factories, 37 firms)
Skill Signaling
1. In a follow-up with ex-workers, 8 of 9 who were asked about their experience in an interview could only describe it verbally — just 3 could show any document, and none had one that showed what they could actually do.
2. 78% of ex-workers were asked about their experience in interviews, yet it didn't translate into a better starting position — average earnings landed around ₹18,000 against an expected ₹23,700.
Access and Mobility
1. Women's representation drops even further at OEMs (2.7%) than at component manufacturers (6.1%) — the plants most likely to run multi-shift operations.
2. Only 8 states allow women to work night shifts in factories at all, and only under conditions like mandated door-to-door transport; 14 states restrict it outright.
broaden access to talent
Women remain underrepresented in manufacturing despite representing a substantial share of India's potential workforce. As industry-led skilling initiatives expand the pipeline of women entering technical roles, firms have the opportunity to recruit from a considerably wider and more diverse pool than today.
build a more productive, reliable workforce
Evidence from adjacent blue-collar sectors links higher women's participation with stronger attendance, lower absenteeism, better retention, and selected productivity gains. One large-scale study found 8% higher attendance, 26% lower unplanned absenteeism, and lower per-worker costs, while a flexi-staffing analysis found a 10.3% increase in gross margin per employee driven by lower attrition and longer tenure. GBL's qualitative fieldwork suggests similar patterns in automotive.
create a more resilient workforce
As automation and the EV transition reshape the skills the sector needs and macroeconomic volatility continues, a more diverse and stable workforce can reduce a firm's reliance on a single, increasingly competitive recruitment pool.
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