March is Women's History Month

Every year, March is designated Women’s History Month across the nation to honor women's contributions in American history. March 8 is International Women's Day (IWD), a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women's equality. This year's theme for IWD is "Inspire Inclusion".

What does it mean to inspire inclusion?

According to IWD, inspire inclusion emphasizes the importance of diversity and empowerment in all aspects of society. One of the key pillars of inspire inclusion is the promotion of diversity in leadership and decision-making positions. RepairPal is thrilled to highlight some of the many influential women in automotive as part of our contribution to the month of March.

Emeline King

Emeline King is the first African American woman designer, hired in 1983 at Ford Motor Company. She was inspired to work in the automotive industry since she was a little girl, following in her dad's footsteps where he worked as a fabrication specialist at Ford.

She wrote a book hoping to inspire other girls to get into automotive and technology, called, "What do you mean a Black girl can't design cars - Emeline King - she did it".

Ayesha Coker

Ayesha Coker is a modern-day automotive revolutionary making history as the first African American woman Vice President of Marketing at Porsche.

Ayesha has held several roles in automotive, joining the Executive Committee at Porsche in January 2022, making her the first African American and first woman of color to join the leadership team.

Mimi Vandermolen

Mimi Vandermolen joined Ford in 1970 as a Designer, working up to Design Executive throughout her career. She is responsible for redesigning of a number of models, including Mustang, Granada, and Probe.

In order to help her team improve the driving experience for women, she asked fellow male designers to wear fake fingernails and skirts, keeping her focus on female drivers in a male-dominated industry.

Barbara Wilson

Barbara Wilson became the first African-American female dealer when she and her husband acquired a Honda Dealer in 1979 in Ferndale, Michigan.

With previous experience working at GM, she worked as the President and Dealer Operator for Sales and Service, managing the business day-by-day alongside her husband.

After her husband's passing, she continued to manage the dealership, as well as GMC Truck dealerships that were acquired previously until her retirement in 1996.

Suzanne Vanderbuilt

Suzanne Vanderbuilt joined GM as a Junior Designer, rising to Chief Designer in her 23 years of employment.

She patented three designs; the inflatable seat back, a safety switch for automotive panels, and a motor helmet design.

Margaret Wu

Margaret Wu is an Industrial Chemist that has a number of inventions and patents, including patents on Synthetic Lubricants that have revolutionized the world of synthetic lubricants.

She has changed how automobile lubricants are designed and synthesized to improve energy efficiency and reduce wasted oil.

Margaret was the first woman to receive the highest rank at ExxonMobil Research and Engineering, where she retired in 2009.

Margaret Wilcox

Margaret Wilcox was one of very few female mechanical engineers of her time.

Despite the challenges of working in a heavily male-dominated industry, Margaret designed the first car heater, which was patented in 1893.

Damyanti Gupta

Damyanti Gupta is the first female engineer hired at Ford. In 1967, at 25-years-old, Damyanti moved to Detroit, applying as an engineer at Ford. Despite being rejected the first time, and no other female engineers ever hired at Ford, Damyanti worked there for the next 35 years of her career.

Damyanti is an inspiration, coming from a tragic start in Pakistan, she is the first female mechanical engineer college student in India. After being inspired by Henry Ford's biography, her parents put all their savings together to send Damyanti to America, where she shined as a successful business woman and role model at Ford Motor Company.

Katharine Blodgett

Katharine Blodgett, physicist and chemist, was the first woman to receive a PhD in Physics from Cambridge University in 1926.

Following her educational success, she worked in GE's Research lab, improving glass used in car windshields, inventing non-reflecting glass, which is used on every car windshield around the world.

Michaela Jaé Rodriguez

Making recent history, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez became the first Afro-Latina Trans woman to be featured in a Lexus car ad.

With vehicles being an extension to consumer's personal style, the campaign was a raving success.

“It was a surreal experience. I’m trailing a way for girls like me just to have a spot. I feel like I’m a part of history in another way and a part of change in another way." -Michaela Jaé Rodriguez

Mary Anderson

Mary Anderson invented the first windshield wiper after watching trolley drivers open their windows or get out to wipe their windshields when it was raining.

Knowing there was a better way, she created the first manual lever that could be operated from inside to wipe a vehicle's windshield.

Be sure to follow RepairPal on social media to share and comment on Women's Month. The official hashtags are #IWD2024 and #InspireInclusion.