Sue Cischke, vice president, Environmental and Safety Engineering, Ford Motor Company, at the Automotive News World Congress

Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2006, Dearborn, Mich.

Thank you, and good morning.

Some of you may have assumed I’m here today to speak as Ford’s environmental and safety chief. Those are the topics I usually talk about when I’m in front of an audience like this.

But, if you came expecting to hear a speech about the safety performance of our vehicles or some of our environmental initiatives, then the next 20 minutes may come as a surprise.

I’m here today to talk about women.

About this time last year, Ed Lapham wrote a column in Automotive News that questioned Ford Motor Company’s commitment to the advancement and retention of executive women.

As an executive at Ford, and a woman, I took personal exception to the article and I didn’t mince words when I shared my feelings with Ed.

My message was simple. I’ve been an executive at two automotive companies – Chrysler and Ford – and that gives me a unique vantage point to observe changes in our business over time.

And what do I see when I look at our industry? More leadership opportunities for women everywhere, but especially at Ford.

Ed was receptive – but skeptical. “You can talk all you want,” he told me, “But come back and see me in one year. Let me know whether you still think that way.”

So Ed invited me here to speak on that very subject. And I’m pleased to do it. Because, one year later, I really do believe that we have a good story to tell about women at Ford.

I continue to believe that opportunities are opening up for women throughout this industry.

The theme of this conference – “The Road to Prosperity: The Right Strategies in a Shifting Landscape” – is a perfect launching point for a discussion about the role of women in the automotive industry.

Today, I’m going to talk about why a diversity plan that includes women is a viable strategy for success – not in spite of, but because of, the difficult situation the auto business is in.

I’ll talk about the business case for hiring, retaining and promoting women.

I’ll share what I believe are two of the greatest obstacles that still stand between women and advancement in this industry.

Then, I’ll fulfill my promise to Ed and share some of the great things that women at Ford are doing today.

I want to launch this discussion by backing up a bit and posing a question: Why should we care about creating opportunities for women in the auto industry?

There are two ways to answer that question.

The first should be obvious. As good corporate citizens, we all want to do the “right thing” – and helping women to achieve success is a worthy goal that benefits society.

But as business people, we’re also practical -- we like to talk in terms of what is good for our businesses, and why. We need to know what’s in it for us and the bottom line.

The answer is clearer now than it ever has been – and it applies not only to women, but to minorities and all underrepresented groups.

Smart businesses know that a diverse team of employees and leaders is a major strategic advantage, especially in a market that is quickly changing.

Today, multicultural groups represent 37 percent of the U.S. population. By the end of this decade, more than 40 percent of our population will be ethnically diverse.

Groups that have been considered “minorities” may no longer, technically, be minorities. And their traditions, lifestyles, cultures and preferences will have a great influence on the products we make and on the very way we conduct our business.

To serve this changing global market, we must look and think like the world – and see it through the eyes of its many people.

Companies that fail to appreciate this will be left behind – especially now, when the margin between success and failure is narrow, and we are fighting for every advantage and sale.

Women pack a powerful purchasing punch. And that, of course, has grabbed the attention of all automakers searching for new business in an era of tight competition.

Consider these facts:

Women are directly responsible for 45-50 percent of all new vehicles purchased in the U.S. – and have a direct influence on up to 80 percent of vehicles they don’t purchase themselves. And 65 percent take their own vehicles to the dealership or shop for repair. Women account for a whopping $85 billion in automotive and related businesses.

Demographic shifts are under way that will give women more power in the marketplace. As baby boomers age, and more females outlive males, the volume of vehicles sold to women as sole decision makers is expected to increase.

At the same time, younger women are flocking to colleges and universities

like never before – and that will bolster future earnings potential. Women in the

25-29 year age range now have a higher college graduation rate than men –

31 percent, versus 26 percent. By the end of the decade, women in the U.S. will be earning 60 percent of the undergraduate degrees. The number of women earning PhDs is rising at a rate of 63 percent per year – while the number of men is rising at only 37 percent, and is expected to begin declining by 2011.

Here’s the carrot: A 5 percent improvement in women’s share is worth well over

$5 billion in revenue opportunity. And that’s today’s statistic. What will a decade of greater educational achievement and career opportunities bring?

The changes under way in the women’s market are just as stratospheric as the other demographic shifts within minority groups. And those changes are driving our businesses in a direction that years of advocacy might not have achieved. There is great growth potential for companies that understand what women want. As our market research continues to tell us, women auto buyers have distinct needs, priorities and interests that we must consider when designing, building and selling our products and services.

Companies that want to get to that market first, and best, better have women fully represented throughout the organization – in design and engineering, in marketing, in finance, in human resources – and, of course, in the executive suites.

Recent studies have linked greater gender diversity at the board or upper management levels to higher compound total return for company stocks. The stock of companies with the highest gender diversity in top management ranks also had the highest average annual return over a 3-year period. So, there’s a tangible, bottom-line benefit – hiring more women can help a company outperform the stock of some of its competitors.

We are doing far better as an industry than we were even five years ago. Consider the recent ceremony held for the “Automotive News 100 Leading Women.” In the first years of the competition, it was tough to find 100 “leading” women in this business. This year, there were 17 chosen from Ford alone. Honorees were CEOs and executives from supply firms, owners of dealerships, and top officers at the major automotive companies. The talent pool was much deeper – there were far more of us from which to choose.

But I know we can do better. I like to think a day will come when we won’t need to recognize “leading women” in this industry, because our presence at the top won’t be a topic of separate discussion. We will be business as usual.

A few minutes ago, I mentioned two barriers that still stand between women and this level of achievement. The first barrier is our automotive culture, which has been male-dominated for more than a century.

We’ve made great progress since Henry Ford began producing vehicles in Dearborn more than a century ago. Year by year, our ranks have grown. But there still is plenty of room for improvement, especially at leadership levels.

We can agree that men and women have equal capabilities, but we are not the same – each gender has unique perspectives, interests and experiences.

And it will take some more time to fully make the shift from a male-dominated culture to one that is more welcoming for women – a culture that is open, inclusive, flexible and respectful of working families, and that is focused on teamwork, collaboration and relationships.

Whenever I begin to question whether we are making progress quickly enough, I think about the early days of my career when the presence of a woman at a business meeting, on a business trip, or a golf outing was still considered a novelty.

I’ll never forget my nephew’s first trip to the Chrysler proving grounds, which I directed for six years in the 1990s. His name is Brad, and he was about five years old at the time. After a marathon tour of the grounds and all the test tracks, I truly thought he was impressed by the work I was doing. He inspected my “corner” office, and then began searching the area with a confused look on his face. “Aunt Sue,” he asked, “Where does the man boss sit?”

He may have been the youngest to ask me that type of question, but he wasn’t the first. For many years, colleagues made assumptions based on my gender. I’m not unique, I don’t know any female automotive veteran who hasn’t faced similar comments and questions. And I’m certain that every one of us could write a book about it.

As a rule, women today don’t face the prejudice of a generation ago. I would suggest that the bigger challenges are “micro-inequities” – the more subtle acts that happen each day, and that can lead to exclusion and discrimination.

Micro-inequities are the negative slights and diminishing behaviors that, as humans, we’ve all been on the wrong end of. You know how it feels to be slighted; diminished by a negative comment or glance; left out of a social gathering after

work; had your contributions minimized. I don’t think there is a person alive who does not appreciate that feeling.

I do believe that women are more often at the receiving end of these messages – and they can exclude us from full participation on the work team.

Micro-inequities are like the party everyone else is invited to. But without an invitation, you can’t participate, you can’t even get in the door. It’s the proverbial glass ceiling – and it still exists, to some extent, in many companies.

Our head of Human Resources, Joe Laymon, goes so far as to describe it as a Plexi-Glass ceiling because it’s even more difficult to break through than glass.

Women are getting through, though and each one who succeeds makes it easier for those who will come later. But, there is still a great deal of work to do if we want to create a culture that truly includes and celebrates the contributions of women – and advances the best and brightest to greater and greater levels of leadership.

The second barrier to the advancement of women is more external. Our industry has often recognized the value of technical and engineering expertise. For many employees – including many of the leaders we have at Ford today – this educational pedigree has been an important step to career advancement.

In saying this, I am not dismissing the important contributions of my colleagues who are in non-engineering fields. Within a company like Ford, we need people of many skills, talents and backgrounds.

Being an engineer myself, I feel frustrated that people think technology can solve all problems, including those created by human behaviors. But we sure do a lot – and our company could not produce the remarkable, complex machines we have today without our contributions. Because of engineers, our vehicles are cleaner, safer and technologically sophisticated.

Can you think of any other product that must be engineered to withstand severe weather, a variety of road conditions, be as safe as possible during a collision, be fuel efficient and meet environmental standards – and yet must be simple enough to be operated by people who don’t have an understanding of what is under the hood?

These are the skills and capabilities we need to compete in the global marketplace – and this need will only increase with time. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that science and engineering occupations will rise at three times the rate of other occupations.

Unfortunately, fewer and fewer young people – and a disappointingly small number of women – are pursuing careers in manufacturing, science or engineering.

America may have been the birthplace of modern manufacturing, but we are clearly losing the race for technical talent to countries like China and India . In 1999, the most recent year that statistics were available, China graduated nearly 200,000 engineers – or 44 percent of all its undergraduate degrees. By contrast, U.S. colleges and universities last year graduated only 73,000 engineers – or less than 5 percent of all bachelor’s degrees.

When you examine the statistics by gender, the situation becomes grimmer. According to the National Science Foundation, only 9 percent of engineers today are women.

A recent Gallup poll reflects the low profile of engineering. When a national sample of adults was asked what career they would recommend for young women, only 3 percent said engineering.

Our automotive companies – and our entire U.S. manufacturing base – will be in serious trouble if we don’t reverse this trend.

This country needs to create an educational pipeline that encourages more young people – women and men alike – to pursue careers in technical fields. We need to work with our school systems at the elementary and middle school levels, so that students are prepared to take the high school science and math classes necessary to prepare them for college engineering programs.

Better yet, we need to find ways to grab their interest early, to make it clear that this is not only an important and valuable job, but one that can lead to greater opportunities and advancement.

Perhaps even Hollywood can play a role. Consider shows like “LA Law,” and “ER." Those shows made the legal and medical professions more glamorous and exciting to millions of TV viewers. “CSI” has turned the science of crime scene investigation into a career option for people who didn’t even know such a job existed!

We might seem like a more interesting group if we can pitch a new show to Hollywood . I don’t know what I’d call it, but I can assure you, we’d probably have as much intrigue and politics as the “West Wing.”

I’ve given you my best thoughts on the two areas – cultural and technical – where I believe we can make the greatest impact on the future of women at our companies.

So, I’d like to wrap up my remarks today by fulfilling my promise to Ed – and tell you what Ford is doing to make a difference in both of those important areas.

I’ll start with education. We have long recognized that businesses have a role in creating an educational pipeline to spark interest in engineering, manufacturing and math – a pipeline that leads from elementary through high school and beyond.

Each year, through the Ford Motor Company Fund, we donate tens of millions of dollars to not-for-profit organizations – with a priority placed on programs and institutions that promote diversity in education.

Through Ford Fund and other company activities, we sponsor a number of initiatives and programs that promote the advancement of girls and women in technical fields.

We have forged partnerships with high schools and colleges throughout the country, and sponsor events each year that aim to cultivate interest in manufacturing careers.

We also have recruiting relationships with a number of colleges, universities and associations that serve women and minorities.

Once women are in the door, we want to keep them at Ford – and help them find fulfilling careers. This is where our corporate culture becomes critically important.

And I do believe we are undergoing great cultural change at Ford.

We have an industry-leading diversity strategy that is benchmarked by other companies. In the past several years, we’ve won more than 200 awards from magazines and organizations that recognize our efforts, including Working Mother magazine.

Let me tell you about some of the programs I participate in – programs that I believe are making a real difference.

The first is our Ford Senior Women’s Initiative. This is led by women at the vice president level or higher, and it helps high-potential women find success within Ford. We identify women who we believe have great promise – and we serve as their mentors and advocates. We coach them, listen to feedback about them, give them our best advice, and advocate for their best interests.

We are a strong and powerful network – and we do what we can to help each of them remain on the road to advancement.

By the way, the first thing we did when we formed the Initiative in 2004 was to meet with Bill Ford – and we not only have his ear, but we have his full support.

The other organization I’d like to mention is our Professional Women’s Network. In typical Ford fashion, we have an acronym for it – the PWN. Hundreds of employees participate in PWN and its affiliate chapters in many of our organizations, like manufacturing, finance, product development and marketing.

Our vision is to be the driving force for Ford in attracting, developing and retaining female employees and customers – making Ford the best place to work and the best place to buy.

Like our Senior Women’s Initiative, the PWN also has a strong mentoring and networking component.

We are focusing our attention on the development and retention of women. This includes educational outreach, employee awareness of women’s working styles and preferences, and the shadowing of senior leaders.

You may be wondering if any of these programs have made a difference. And to be honest, I can’t answer that. We rarely get to know which individual act inspires a change in the way people and organizations think and behave.

But I can tell you that we are seeing results at Ford. This year, Anne Stevens made news when she became executive vice president and chief operating officer of The Americas – the highest position ever held by a woman at an automaker. She is a driving force behind the Way Forward, our plan to restructure our North American operations.

There are others, including women directing important functions like Human Resources, Finance, and Quality. We now have more female senior leaders than at any point in our history, including three on our Board of Directors. In fact, Ford has more corporate, board-appointed female officers than any other major automaker and the only two female African American officers. Among our highest leadership levels, more than 13 percent are women.

So you can understand why I was surprised by Ed’s column about women at Ford, which he assures me was also about the industry as a whole.

That’s why it’s important to say that we have a good story to tell. But we intend to keep pushing – pushing for more women at Ford, for more women in technical jobs, in the senior offices and in the boardroom.

We know that with every new leadership position that is given to a woman at Ford, we create a role model. And each role model casts a significant shadow that opens up possibilities for all women.

I’d like to close with another story that I see as a sign of our changing times. The children of one of my male colleagues were playing “work" – the girl was playing me as the “boss,” and her brother was acting out the role of his father, my direct report. What my colleague found remarkable is that his kids didn’t view this as anything unusual – they were playing out the roles they saw in the world.

It once was unusual for a woman to work outside the home. When I began my career, it was still unusual to see women as doctors, lawyers, business owners or politicians.

Today, the presence of women in the workforce – and in many fields once dominated by men – has become so familiar that we no longer question it.

Look at the women who are running countries. Several decades ago, we could not have imagined a woman leading the government of a fairly conservative nation. Or a woman serving as secretary of state for the most powerful country in the world.

Kids have caught on – other professions have caught on – and governments have caught on. And finally, the auto industry is starting to catch on.

Change may be slow, but it has to happen if we as automotive manufacturers want to grow our businesses and serve important, new markets. And at Ford, we think we are doing our part.

It will take the work of all of us – women and men, together – to rebuild our auto industry for a brighter and stronger future.

Thank you. Now I’ll be happy to take your questions.

Sue Cischke, Bio and Picture