When I entered automotive in the late 90s, dealerships used either blue screens with onsite servers or paper green ledgers. The internet was still emerging as a business tool. Some dealers questioned whether a website was worth the investment. Internet leads were confusing and BDCs were rare.
Roles inside many dealerships were clearly ‘defined’. Women were most often found in accounting offices or administrative roles. Sales floors, F&I offices and Service drives were overwhelmingly male. Leadership tables tended to look the same.
That was a deeply embedded status quo many women stepped into. Not everywhere. Not universally. But often enough to shape the experience. Credibility was something women had to build… repeatedly.
Technology Reshaped the Game
Automotive culture was shifting under our feet… and technology was pushing it forward fast. Onsite servers gave way to cloud platforms. Paper ROs became digital workflows. Internet leads transformed into core revenue strategy and data access reshaped decision-making.
Automotive technology didn’t just modernize dealerships. It quietly expanded opportunities.
As these shifts became standard, the definition of “automotive professional” expanded beyond the showroom into product, development, analytics and cybersecurity. The playing field widened.
Women Were Always There
Women contributed long before visibility caught up. Three examples have always stuck with me. Not because they were loud… but because the women were building before the narrative made room for them.
In 1903, Mary Anderson patented the windshield wiper. An innovation that was initially dismissed… and is now used worldwide every single day.
During World War II, Hedy Lamarr, a famous actress, co-developed frequency-hopping communication technology… a precursor to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS powering today’s connected vehicles.
Design leaders like Helene Rother at GM introduced color, fabric and human-centered thinking into vehicle interiors when most cabins were purely utilitarian. Mimi Vandermolen later led the interior design of the Ford Taurus, bringing driver-centered dashboards, intuitive controls and supportive seating into the mainstream. They literally helped shape the interior driving experience many now take for granted.
The historical spotlight may have centered on men. The contributions tell a broader story. For many of us, those stories weren’t just history. They were lived.
Flash to 2026
The most noticeable shift is not just representation… it’s support.
Women who entered automotive decades ago, found a narrower path. Advancement required performance, resilience and a willingness to prove (again & again) that they belonged in the room. The evolution was not guaranteed… it was earned.
Today, women are more likely to mentor one another. More likely to collaborate. More visible across dealership executive roles, OEM strategy and the tech driving today’s retail experience.
Women influence 85% of vehicle purchasing decisions and purchase more than 60% of new vehicles in the US. In contrast, as of 2022, women represented just 27% of the automotive workforce.
Progress is happening, but our responsibility to keep building remains.
Today’s Standard
At Dominion DMS, we see this evolution firsthand across our teams and our clients. Leadership is defined by capability, performance and impact… not by traditional expectations of who “belongs” in certain roles.
Those standards matter because real progress is not just about breaking with tradition or changing stereotypes. It’s about ensuring talent has room to rise… because opportunity and advancement should follow skill, talent and capability.
Honoring the Shift
Women’s History Month is not about rewriting automotive history. It’s about celebrating that the industry has and is changing… technologically & culturally. With that change, opportunities expand.
Thankfully, the next chapter will not be defined by who fought hardest to stay in the room.
It will be defined by who builds, leads and innovates within it.
Statistics sourced from Cox Automotive, JD Powers, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Automotive News workforce reporting.