Since 2004, Nissan’s ‘Women in the Driver’s Seat’ initiative has more than doubled recruitment of female engineering graduates to 17 per cent this year and recruitment of female salespeople has jumped from 15 per cent to 34 per cent. The number of women managers at Nissan, while still tiny, has risen from 2 per cent to 5 per cent. ‘In an ideal situation, we should mirror the market we serve -50 per cent – but there is a long way to go, says Miyuki Takahashi, General Manager of the Diversity Development Office that runs the initiative to woo female employees and customers. At a conference organized by Catalyst, for the advancement of women in business, Nissan was one of this year’s two award winners, not least for having hit its initial target of women making up 5 per cent of its managers in an industry in which the average is just 0.6 per cent.