She's a sales consultant at Drummy Oldsmobile and Suzuki in Eastpointe. The gender landscape of the auto industry is changing. The numer of women in hourly jobs at Ford Motor Co. has tripled to nearly 16 percent since the 1960s. Meanwhile, the number of female engineers, including those in the auto industry, has risen from 120,000 to 228,000 from 1988 to 1998, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics. Although women are still a minority in automotive fields, there is still much to celebrate says Lorraine Schultz, founder and director of the Women's Automotive Association International, which is based in Detroit.
Today there are so many women with very important auto jobs that there is less intimidation.
Schultz has attended the Charity Preview, the Motor City's splashiest black-tie event, for the last 25 years. She predicts that a great number of women attending this year's gala will wear pants suits. It's about comfort. There is a lot of walking. But this is my first time going to the Preview, and it is connected with my business, so I didn't want to choose anything too revealing.