Auto Trader and the Automotive 30% Club explore the damaging role of performative allyship in business
Lookers’ head of D & I joins expert panel to discuss the benefits of action-based allyship and activism
As part of its commitment to help drive greater gender diversity in the automotive industry, at 2pm on Wednesday 14th October, Auto Trader will be hosting the second in its series of webinars in partnership with the Automotive 30% Club.
Courageous Conversations is a series of interactive webinars aimed at exploring the unique experiences of UK automotive businesses in their journey to create a more positive culture for women in their organisation. Each episode, which is free and open to anyone to join, is centred around a topical issue associated with gender diversity and features a panel of automotive thought leaders providing guidance and practical tips.
Episode two will focus on performative allyship, and its damaging role in diversity and inclusion (D&I), along with how to move towards more genuine, action-based allyship and activism.
Auto Trader’s senior campaign manager, Rebecca Nassiri, and the Automotive 30% Club’s founder, Julia Muir, will be joined by Looker’s group diversity manager, Adam Carney, and Auto Trader’s client development director, Simon Hosannah. Also joining the panel is Fiona Daniel, former head of diversity for HSBC UK and now a leading D&I consultant and founder of FD2I.
Half of the one-hour session will be dedicated to an interactive Q&A, where viewers can pose questions live to the panel.
Commenting on episode two, Rebecca Clark, Auto Trader’s Group Sales Director said: “We were thrilled by the number of people from across the industry that not only joined our first webinar on intersectionality, but actively participated throughout it. It reinforced just how important diversity and inclusion is to today’s automotive business leaders, and whilst many are still at the beginning of their D&I journey, they are actively looking for support in implementing a more diverse culture in their businesses. That’s why this series of webinars draws on the first-hand experience of some of the industry’s most notable individuals and organisations, which along with the expertise of Julia Muir, we hope will provide the practical guidance many across the industry are looking for to help them progress on their journey.”
Julia Muir, founder of the Automotive 30% Club, added: “This webinar will focus on the controversial area of genuine versus performative allyship. Companies that are genuine allies of underrepresented groups show authenticity through their deeds not their words, whereas performative allies are seeking brand association, positive PR, and simply jump on the latest social media bandwagon.
“Inclusion is more than a hashtag; an inclusive leader builds and sustains a culture that truly seeks to enable diverse people to reach their full potential and contribute to greater business success. Genuine allies are making significant changes within their companies, rather than just posting blackouts, rainbows or fem-vertising. They will reap the benefits, because such strong authentic values will be rewarded by employees, investors and customers.”
To register for Courageous Conversations, episode two, please visit: https://bit.ly/3d9Ug1I
