General Motors CEO Mary Barra will no longer be attending an award ceremony next week, where she was to receive a national award honoring the achievements of women, in response to objections over the American automaker’s failure to recall vehicles with a faulty ignition switch in a timely manner, according to USA Today.
The National Women’s History Museum has planned to award Barra with the museum’s Katharine Graham Living Legacy Award at a ceremony next Monday in the nation’s capital, but General Motors announced in a statement earlier this week that she was no longer going to attend the ceremony.
“Out of respect for the National Women’s History Museum and the honorees, CEO Mary Barra will not attend the de Pizan Honors next Monday, November 17th,” General Motors said in the statement, as quoted by The Detroit News. “The decision was made to ensure that attendees can focus on recognizing the achievements of American women, past and present.”
A group of people protested the decision to give the award to Barra, claiming that some of their friends or relatives were killed in General Motors cars. In a letter to six congressional co-chairs of the event, including United States Representative Candice Miller, the group said it took “serious issue” with an award honoring Barra in the wake of “unprecedented recalls” and what the group called her “lack of transparency and accountability in the crisis.”
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