Female Leadership in the Auto Market

Overcoming speed bumps to put women in the driver’s seat

April 2025

Auto has historically been a hyper-masculine domain – but, with role models such as Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors, Daniela Cavallo, Chairwoman of Volkswagen Group Works Council, and Zenvo Automotive’s CEO Angela Hartman firmly behind the wheel, conversations are opening up about women being equipped to lead the way in this sector.

The WBD roundtable will set the agenda to kickstart talking points on women leaders in the auto industry.

The Background

Why the auto market matters

The Middle East automotive market, estimated to be worth over USD1,600 million, is a rapidly growing industry with strong demand for cars. The CAGR has been pegged to be around 11 per cent. The region is a key market for luxury and high-performance vehicles.

Key factors

Demand: A young population, increasing urbanization, and rising disposable incomes drive demand for cars.

Infrastructure: A rapidly developing infrastructure is creating demand for commercial vehicles.

Used cars: The Middle East market sees a higher relative level of used car transactions every year.

Electric vehicles: Governments are implementing policies to boost EV adoption.

Sustainability: The region is striving to adopt greener manufacturing processes.

Artificial Intelligence: AI will be huge driver in the coming years.

Talking Points

How women can power the auto highway

Innovation: Female leaders help bring new perspectives to develop new products and services that meet the needs of a diverse and specific customer base.

Foster creativity: With female inclusion in leadership teams, how strategies become more the creative, customized and experiential.

Inspire others: Women leaders can encourage an entire generation of younger women to pursue careers in STEM fields — which is woefully lopsided in favour of men.

Close the gender pay gap: Female leaders can help create more equitable workplaces when they lead by example and therefore address this big concern.

Improve sustainability: Women are instinctively more environmentally friendly. Having them in key positions in the auto sector will help the industry move towards more sustainable production and practices.

To know more send an email to poonam@womenboardofdirectors.com