Not every sentence suggests that Anna Trunk has arrived in her dream job.

She is at home in a male-dominated and technology-loving industry, she says.

And then there is this sentence: “I had to put up with Chauvi sayings.” From those “car guys” for whom the auto industry is the ideal habitat.

But for a woman?

Among all the wide-legged PS junkies who fondle the Germans' dearest child?

Uwe Marx

Editor in business.

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    Of the roughly 800,000 jobs in the German auto industry, only just under 18 percent are held by women. At Audi, Anna Trunk's employer, the figure is 15.2 percent. Those who are female stand out, especially in the technical departments. As Head of Audi Financial Communications, she doesn't tinker with engines, but for almost ten years in the service of the brand from the Volkswagen Group, she has worked in some of these departments: as a project manager in the development department for electric mobility, for example, or in the "Audi Innovation Hub" in Berlin. Apart from that, technology plays a role everywhere in a car company. "Ability to suffer and energy" are essential for women, she says.

    The fact that women even go on a journey into the auto cosmos is still the exception.

    It starts with your studies.

    Matthias Oechsner is dean of the mechanical engineering department at the Technical University (TU) Darmstadt and can see firsthand how great the deterrent is.

    It is true that 14 percent of mechanical engineering students in Darmstadt are female today - when he was a student, in the 1990s, it was only one percent.

    But the numbers are only one thing.

    In addition, the automotive industry is also less attractive to young men than it used to be.

    That always applies to women.

    They were more interested in renewable energies or digitization.

    Helpfulness is also not atypical

    Oechsner and Co. aggressively advertise every student of mechanical engineering at the TU, sometimes with “role models” such as a colleague who has a teaching assignment and at the same time works in industry, with a focus on robotics. Because once young women are there, they are often more focused and better prepared than their male fellow students. The example of Daimler shows how extensively car companies also advertise for female reinforcements. Around 54,000 women work there globally, which corresponds to a share of 19 percent women. Apart from the usual trade fair appearances or girls and women days, there are loyalty and support programs for young academics, diversity workshops, leadership workshops for women and mentoring programs.

    Xenia Koop is not yet firmly established in the auto industry. She is studying industrial engineering and mechanical engineering at RWTH Aachen University, was an assistant in departments for vehicle concepts and driving dynamics at the university and is doing an internship at Porsche. On her wards, the ratio of men and women was "rarely balanced," she says. After all: "I have never been in a situation in which I felt uncomfortable or less respected or was seen as a quota woman." Willingness to help is more typical. She could not say "that it is a big thing to work as a woman in this industry".

    The auto industry is an industry with a high level of collective bargaining coverage, a very small pay gap and good promotion of women, says Stefanie Geyer, head of the women and gender equality board of IG Metall. “Nevertheless, it is important to continue to change the culture there.” For a long time, mostly men with a similar background would have been in charge there. "We have long known from many studies that diverse teams are better and more forward-looking than such pure men's networks."

    The Audi woman Anna Trunk sees it similarly: It is crucial that the auto industry is changing rapidly and she likes to be in the middle of this transformation process of electromobility, autonomous driving and new business models. Basically, the opportunity has never been more favorable for women in the auto industry because new perspectives have rarely been so popular. She admits: For women it is "a fine line not to become a deadline bunny". Also, you shouldn't allow the professional stages that you are entitled to be taken away by male pushers. Four points are crucial. First: “Get out of the comfort zone” - women have to be ready to overcome obstacles and not give up too soon. Second: "Networks, networks,networks ”- not in order to become a mere business card collector or professional small talker, but in order to look specifically for allies on the further career path. Third: "Actively communicate your own strengths and position yourself" - that is usually difficult for women. That worked for Trunk. She is in the right place professionally. And men would not only have made life difficult for her now and then - many would have encouraged her vigorously.