27 June 2012

Women progress in male-dominated industries

According to a new report, the Women and Work programme -- set up to tackle barriers to women getting on in certain sectors, including manufacturing -- has led to 24,400 women completing one or more training courses and has engaged 5,500 employers since it was set up in 2006.

In the science, engineering and manufacturing sectors, co-ordinated by sector skills council Semta, 88% of learners said they felt the programme had improved their confidence.

The sector skills council's own programme, developed after researching the barriers to women getting on in engineering and manufacturing, was delivered across all disciplines and levels to 421 participants.

The qualification is now available on the QCF at a VRQ Level 3 and being promoted as a self-sustaining commercial product.

Lynn Tomkins, UK operations director at Semta, said: "The UKCES report shows great progress has been made but there is no room for complacency.

"We know that businesses in our sectors will need 82,000 new engineers, scientists and technicians between now and 2016. Women represent half the UK workforce but only account for 21% of science, engineering and manufacturing employees. They are a great untapped resource at a time when we need a wealth of new talent and higher level skills to improve competitiveness."

Author
Ken Hurst

Supporting Information

Companies
SEMTA

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