Women have a place in all aspects of motorsport: FIA

BIanca Bustamante

Women are steadily gaining ground in all aspects of motorsport – not just behind the wheel but also in engineering, officiating, and team management, according to FIA Road Sport director Emilia Abel.

In an exclusive interview with the Times during the 2025 FIA General Conference held in Macau last week, the director discussed several aspects and developments in motorsports, including new initiatives from the FIA specifically directed at women.

She emphasized that the sport offers diverse roles where women are increasingly making their mark and must be recognized as equals.

Abel added that beyond dispelling the persistent notion that motorsport is a male – dominated arena, there is a pressing need to highlight the breadth of roles beyond driving –  areas where women are increasingly active and equally capable.

“[When we speak about motorsports and the participation of women in motorsports], we often talk about competition and drivers, but there is more to it. There is all the organizational side [of it], and we also have female engineers working on the team, and more are coming up. We also have at least one female race director at the FIA, so it is becoming increasingly equal,” Abel remarked.

Still, the official  noted that most women’s interest in motorsports primarily stems from competition, particularly at the grassroots level, namely, karting.

“There are a lot of young girls interested in the sport, and we see this comes a lot through karting, which is the first step and the most accessible. In some countries, we also have ‘cross car’ [competitions], which we also use for younger racers.

If we look at the results of last year’s FIA Motorsport Games, which we hosted in Valencia, we had two girls in the top three, so I would say it’s becoming more popular [among women], and the results are starting to show it.”

To reinforce women’s participation in motorsport activities and jobs, the FIA held a session last week in Macau that focused on diversity and women in motorsports.

This session culminated in the announcement of the launch, for the second consecutive year, of a large-scale mentoring program hosted by the FIA, specifically targeting young girls and women globally.

The program aims to enable women from different regions to support and learn from one another.

As the FIA explained, some of these women serve as both mentees and mentors, possessing skill sets in one area but not in another, making this a highly interactive and comprehensive program.

They noted that one of the things that comes up particularly in discussions within the Women in Motorsport Commission is the idea that “you can’t be what you can’t see”—a lack of role models that the FIA is keen to address and tackle in this way.

In this sense, considerable importance is attributed to women currently operating in the field, with the FIA believing that increasing their visibility to the younger generation will inspire them.

WIM Mentoring Program enters year two

The FIA has announced that it is now open to receiving applications for the 2025 Women in Motorsport (WIM) Mentoring Program, which aims to involve approximately 500 women who will, in turn, connect with established female mentors from across the motorsport industry.

Applications for the program, for both mentees and mentors, are open until June 30.

In the first year of this program, in 2024, the initiative resulted in more than 400 successful matches, helping hundreds of women learn about opportunities and career development pathways within the motorsport ecosystem.

Participants came from more than 69 different countries, with initial feedback indicating a 93% satisfaction rate in mentorship pairings.

On the program, Sarah E. Hendriks, UN Women director for the Policy, Programme, and Intergovernmental Division, said in a video message: “Motorsport is, of course, more than speed, precision, and innovation. It is a global stage that reflects our societies, our values, and our collective aspirations. And yet, for far too long, women have been underrepresented – not only on the track, but also in the engineering rooms, in the technical teams, in decision-making bodies, and certainly in leadership roles.”
“Today, we are changing that narrative. Programs like this are a critical step forward because when women have equal access to opportunities in motorsport, they drive innovation. They inspire the next generation, and they help shape a more inclusive future for the sport.
Women and girls belong in every garage, in every control room, in every boardroom. They belong in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics – the backbone of motorsport –and they deserve the support and visibility to succeed. At UN Women, we believe in the power of sport, not only to reflect society, but also to transform it,” she added.

Among the FIA programs aiming to create a more diverse and inclusive motorsport are initiatives such as the FIA Girls on Track program, which last year alone welcomed more than 2,700 participants to 27 events held both at FIA events and in partnership with Formula E.

This year, the program has been expanded to other championships, in collaboration with World Endurance and World Rally Championships, as well as the TCR World Tour and Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers).

More beyond driving initiatives

Also, last week, the FIA announced that this year’s Motorsport Engineering Scholar award has been granted to Sanya Jain.

The young engineer from India joins the Motorsport Engineering Scholarship community following her undergraduate degree in Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo in Canada, where she was an Academic Representative for the Class of 2025 and on the Dean’s Honors List.

As a scholarship winner, Sanya will pursue a fully funded MSc in Advanced Motorsport Engineering at Cranfield University.

On the award, FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem said, “The FIA is committed to building a more inclusive future for motorsport, and initiatives like the Motorsport Engineering Scholarship allow us to support exceptional young scholars from around the world to unlock the innovative thinking our sport needs to thrive. I’m delighted to congratulate Sanya on this achievement and look forward to following her journey at Cranfield University.”

In turn, Jain said, “This scholarship represents another step in a lifelong dream to work in motorsport engineering. I am honored to have received the recognition and support of the FIA panel and to have the opportunity to study at one of the world’s leading specialist motorsport universities. I’m excited to join my classmates at Cranfield in September.”

Jain is the FIA’s third Motorsport Engineering Scholar. Previous scholars include Jesica Salvini of Argentina and Yasir Muhammad from Pakistan.