Woman, your time has come

I was at a board meeting for an automotive company where I reminded the marketing director about consciously not using women in skimpy shorts and revealing clothes at motor shows or car shows. Have you been to a local car show? You don’t see the cars right away and you will instead see a lot of young women in mini skirts, body hugging clothes before you see the cars on display. And that how it has been for many years in the car show sector.

But some good news now. Japan has banned women in skimpy attires at their motor shows. Thank God Japan has been enlightened on the respect for women and their roles in the automotive industry – not as “come ons” but as intelligent sales persons and women of substance.

Why is it that women are used in this manner? Is it the exhibitor thinking this is the only way to attract customers? Or are the women enjoying it – being used as objects of desire, attraction and interest? I cannot fathom the reasons. Some say it is a competition for the attention of the buyers and visitors – but if you take a closer look, the women all look the same. So what’s the difference? Cheap thrills for the males who engage these women in chitchat. I think it also reflects on the exhibitor company – if you still need women to attract visitors, maybe your product cannot speak for itself.

I hope the local automotive industry, where many women CEOs are now present, will change this practice and think of innovations in attracting customers at these motor shows.

Now for more good news. Women in the automotive industry are now present in production lines. I commend companies who have finally realized that women are good at details and women make good engineers for the industry. There are now more women in the workforce and with advances in technology, women do not need brawn to operate high tech machines. They just need brains and that equalizes the playing field. Salary rates must also be “genderless” (where Sam might make more than Jane), where rates are standard for male or female candidates.

Even in the construction industry, women now figure as finishing painters and need not compete as masons who have to carry bags of cement from one place to another. Women are being tapped to do the detailed work that many men (sorry to say) dismiss as “ too detailed” for them. We did a stakeholder consultation for the TESDA Women’s Center and this is what we found out from construction companies. They, in fact, specify women for some jobs….and not as sexy sales agents. But real specialties like finishing a house, attention to the minute details that men may miss.

Women should be seen in more specialty careers that are in STEM. Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Some add Architecture to make it STEAM. Or Agriculture, too. To encourage more girls to take up these careers we must expose the models that they can emulate. Instead of just encouraging entrepreneurs to start businesses, we must encourage bright girls to take up careers in Science and Technology, Engineering and other disciplines usually thought of as “male” or is at present male-dominated.

Other than STEM, I also observed that our top graduate at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) is a woman. Kudos to the PMA and to the proud graduate. We soon will see more women even in the Armed Forces, and in their leadership.

We were at lunch with Ambassador Delia Domingo-Albert, she being our first female ambassador to Australia and Germany, and she shared how over 90 women became ambassadors at our Department of Foreign Affairs. And in step with global developments, I also see many female ambassadors from the European countries being assigned to the Philippines.

So, woman, your time has come. You can be anything or anyone you want to be. And if the first driver is financial security, these specialized jobs do pay more than the usual careers in sales and marketing for which women are often recruited. If you want a chance at studying and working abroad, choose a field that is special – artificial intelligence, cyber security, AI ethics and I cannot over-emphasize excelling in science and health care.

So let us refrain from making women do the usual predictable jobs like models and promo girls. There is a world of opportunity because the internet has equalized how men and women get jobs and develop careers. I just watched a woman in charge of Amazon’s Zoox – she is a minority from Senegal and is in charge of developing the first driverless vehicle. Now, that’s special.

I am not bashing women who enter the sales force. Some women just do it oh so naturally, it’s like they are not selling at all. I am just opening up our minds to other opportunities for our young girls. Something that can stretch the mind with endless possibilities.

And hopefully, in the near future, we need not see models and promo girls selling cars at car shows anymore.