The jobs market is awash with young ladies looking for work – offer one an apprenticeship.
For many years, there have been calls to increase the number of women employed in the automotive industry.
In June (2025), The Engineer wrote that “currently there are an estimated 23,000 job vacancies for skilled workers in the motor trade. On top of that, an ageing workforce means that around 19% of automotive manufacturing workers are … approaching retirement.”
But as for women, back in 2016, the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) commented that just 1% of technicians were female and that the sector had to “employ more women or risk missing out on millions of pounds.” A survey then found that 96% of female customers wanted to deal with female mechanics, and 31% were worried about repairs because they feared being conned by men.
While things have improved somewhat, Emma Carrigy, head of research, careers and inclusion at the IMI, says that now just 18.6% of the sector’s overall workforce are women, and that “female representation is particularly low in technical roles – only 11.3% in maintenance and repair of motor vehicles.”
She sees “outdated perceptions” as being a key reason for this, and that many women “don’t realise today’s workshops are technology-rich, clean environments with strong career progression.”
Yes, sexism and bias still exists, but Carrigy thinks the bigger issue is lack of awareness – “women simply aren’t hearing enough about the sector’s opportunities early enough.”
And this is borne out by The Engineer, which said that “outside perceptions of the male-dominated sector (86% male) may be further limiting the recruitment pool.”
Carrigy points to the IMI’s “There’s More to Motor” campaign that launched in August 2023. And it seems to be working; the body highlighted in March 2024 that it received 5.3m clicks and more than 2000 people went to recruitment sites.
The desire to see more women in the sector is favoured by Karen Gallagher, a director of two Cornwall-based garages – North Country Garage and Sevenmilestone Garage.
Her car-orientated garage has employed female mechanics in the past and currently has a mechanic/MOT tester “that has worked for [her] for many years and is an asset to the team.”
As she sees it, while schools and colleges have always been very supportive of any females she has employed, and the government has legislation in place to protect employees, “the motor industry as a whole still appears to prefer men as mechanics.”
Women simply aren’t hearing enough about the sector’s opportunities early enough
Notably, she’s never had a customer who had a problem with a female mechanic.
And elsewhere, there are others who support her view, including Mark Davison, development director of North London Garages, a London-based training organisation.
He thinks it “important to have equality and diversity” so that female customers can, if they choose, discuss their car with a female mechanic.
While the IMI has seen changes in the number of women employed, so has Davison. He details how the landscape has changed since the 1990s when he completed his apprenticeship.
But the problem is that there is a shortage of skilled workers in automotive. In fact, Davison reckons that there’s a shortage generally in trades where digital is not involved.
This is why his organisation “encourages women to come into the sector.” And he’s seeing female engagement rates improve: “It’s probably a good 12%, and increasing, of females to males.” He thinks this will increase over time.
But remember, he’s only referring to cars. The matter is far more problematic when it comes to motorcycles.
Yes, there are plenty of female (only)-friendly garages, but they’re for cars. There was Gwenda’s Garage in Sheffield that opened in 1985 (but closed in 1990) and Spanners with Manners in north London to name just a couple.
And there’s also Foxy Lady Approved, which details female-friendly garages and car dealers.
But not much else.
It’s true that there are groups out there helping women to understand more about their bikes and how to maintain them.
There’s Tamworth-based Ratchet and Ride, which runs a series of workshops for women, run by women, and for all levels of ability. Courses aren’t full qualifications but rather half and full-day workshops, along with supervised workshop space.
Another similar offering comes from Moto Workshop in London’s Shoreditch with courses on maintenance, oil and filter changes, electrics, chain maintenance, tyres, brakes and TIG welding.
A Facebook group, Surrey & Hampshire Motorcycle Meetup, saw a post specifically asking if there were any female-focused motorcycle garages in Surrey. There was one comment about a single woman who came to a poster’s home, but beyond that were just two references to Steve Jordan Motorcycles, with a “lovely lady [Sarah] on reception taking the bookings and seems to know what they’re talking about.”
Notably, there’s also Mechanic Girl – a 26-year-old woman from Vietnam with a YouTube channel where, amongst other things, she repairs and restores motorcycles.
In reality, there appears to be only one female-owned garage – Zenith Motorcycles, owned by Karen Neill, director, in London’s Haringey.
Neill says she’s the UK’s only female motorcycle garage owner and specifically says that she doesn’t “get business because I’m a woman… but men say that because I’m a woman, I’ve got the attention to detail.”
She thinks that the lack of female mechanics and garage owners is all down to the sector’s demographic. That said, she states that she’s been seeing more female riders over the last few years.
Zenith was set up 13 years ago, and Neill then, with “rose-tinted spectacles,” had hoped that she would have a queue of female apprentices and customers. But in those 13 years, she’s had just two female work experience apprentices, with only one going on to become a junior technician. She makes the point that she takes in plenty of apprentices through schools.
Neill adds: “Few males want to do manual work, so you cannot expect women not to be the same.”
Looking to the future, part of the solution is the government through its education and skills regime.
Labour has taken steps by creating Skills England “to transform opportunities and drive growth… to bring together key partners to meet the skills needs of the next decade across all regions”.
Under the old system – pre-June 2025 – there was serious fragmentation in skills strategy with multiple organisations and regulators and various forms of funding. The result was skills mismatches of people and jobs.
Skills England has now taken over the functions of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education. And there’s also a new Growth and Skills Levy that has replaced the Apprenticeship Levy to “allow employers to access a wider range of training with their funding.”
Ultimately, Skills England may promote the sector, but employers need to “make the roles more appealing to people that want to enter, regardless of their gender.” And for the motorcycle trade, it needs to find a way to get more women interested.