It was International Women's Day on Wednesday this week. Described as 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.

I saw countless examples on social media of businesses in our sector and its related industries, celebrating their female workforce. It all felt extremely positive and inclusive. Hopefully shining a light on the opportunities that can be afforded to anyone with enthusiasm for the industry will add to what I'm sure is everyone's goal, of encouraging wider and more diverse workplaces.

It was timely then, that we caught up yesterday with our panel of women who work in various roles at dealerships across the country. It was the first time we'd spoken together since we had publicised the informal group a month or so ago. As such, it was interesting to discover whether our panel had heard many reactions from within their own dealerships and indeed the wider world, to the establishment of the working group.

Thankfully it all sounded mostly positive and upbeat. Some of our panelists had been contacted by their supplying manufacturers for example, congratulating them for being part of something that has as its intention, doing some good where it can. Messages had been passed on that it was great that these things were even being talked about. Offers of help where and when they could, had been extended.

There had been encouragement via social media and online comments too - even from across the pond, with our good friend and Service Dealer columnist Sara Hey of Bob Clements International, posting, "This is a fantastic movement! What powerhouse team you have as part of this group Cheering you on from the U.S."

As I suppose is the nature of online discourse, there had been one posting that had stuck out. A defensive comment, perhaps indicative of the attitudes that could do with being changed if our sector is going to achieve its aim of appealing to a broader base. It's all about perceptions our panel said - and if the perception of the industry is that some individuals can get worked up and defensive as soon as these issues are simply raised in a friendly environment, then there is clearly some work to be done.

Looking ahead

The group spent much of its time yesterday, discussing how to proceed from here. There were some fabulous ideas floated, that will be made public in due course. It's no secret to suggest though, that all have as their guiding principal, raising the profile of the dealer sector in general - with a specific aim of hopefully getting a message across to younger women that dealerships could have plenty to offer as a rewarding career.

Everyone agreed that how and where these messages are conveyed, is absolutely key to cutting through to a section of society who most likely have little-to-no awareness of what may be broadly termed the land-based engineering sector. Again, without going into specifics at this stage, the group felt that humanising available roles within a dealership, putting a relatable face and real-life experiences in front of people, could be a productive avenue to explore - rather than just talking about jobs such as parts, sales, technicians etc in abstract terms.

Related to this, finding pioneering women to act as influencers to tell their stories and act as inspirational figures in the online space, is an area it was felt had great potential.

All of the ideas discussed, have at their heart the desire to increase the diversity of dealerships. And this desire isn't some grand, political ideal. No, it genuinely wants to be of practical benefit to businesses. The advantage of greater diversity in staff members was clearly illustrated with an anecdote that one of our panelists related yesterday, regarding a conversation she'd had recently with a female customer.

This customer had said how pleasant it was to be able to speak to a female member of staff in a dealership as she didn't feel intimated or out of her depth, as she wasn't a machinery expert. This led to the customer feeling comfortable in the surroundings of the showroom and kicked-off a productive, and hopefully long-term, working relationship. Which is of course, what being an independent specialist is all about.

Following all the positive examples seen this week of the integral roles women play in teams across our industry, let's hope a wave of enthusiasm can continue to build, finding ways of appealing to new entrants.

We'll have more to share soon about some exciting initiatives that will be kicking off - in the meantime, thanks again to our expert panelists who gave up their time to join us this week.