Inspiring women in engineering and manufacturing careers
22/10/2012 Enginuity
Industrialists are being urged to close the gender gap by getting more women into advanced manufacturing and engineering - helping to close the skills gap at the same time.Semta, the sector skills council for science, engineering and advanced manufacturing believes today's (Oct 18) first UK Inspiring Women conference in London provides an ideal platform to showcase to girls and young women that there are real long-term career prospects in what are seen as traditionally male-dominated workplaces.
Lynn Tomkins, Semta's UK operations director said: "Women are a great untapped resource at a time when we need a wealth of new talent and higher level skills to improve competitiveness. They comprise half of the working population yet only 21 per cent of the workforce in UK advanced manufacturing and engineering are women and only six per cent of engineers are women. That's not good enough.
"We have done a lot of work over the last four years with our Career and Advancement Progression programme, targeted specifically at women, with some great successes but more has to be done."
Of the 460,000 apprenticeship starts last year, 49,000 were in engineering and manufacturing, with only five per cent female.
The latest university admissions statistics show that 33.4 per cent of successful undergraduate applicants for science subjects in 2011 were female compared to 37 per cent the previous year. Only 19 per cent of engineering applicants were female.
The issue is further compounded by the fact that, of the minority of women who study engineering and technology, only 51 per cent go on to a career in industry compared to 70 per cent of their male counterparts.
Research by the Institute of Physics (IOP) published last week revealed that nearly half of all state schools in England did not have any girls sitting A-level Physics last year. Overall, only 20 per cent of students taking the exam were girls.
And a report by Women into Science and Engineering (WISE), sponsored by BAE Systems, found girls were put off careers in the sector by lack of careers advice, female role models and fear of sexism in the workplace.
The report also revealed that the UK compares badly with the rest of Europe in having women in STEM careers - nine per cent compared with a 17% average.
Lynn Tomkins added:" The sector, which contributes £250 billion turnover to the UK economy, needs to recruit and train 82,000 scientists, engineers and technologists by 2016 and upskill 363,000 of the current technical workforce whose qualifications are below world class standards.
"We need careers advisers, employers and parents to help girls understand the opportunities which exist. There are some great role models of women achievers but we need more to inspire the next generation coming through the education system."
Semta's Career and Advancement programme has helped 1300 women, from companies such as BAE Systems, Jaguar Land Rover and Airbus, to analyse their current position and work towards specific individual career objectives.
The programme, delivered through three-day workshops, equips participants with relevant skills and confidence to tackle specific gender behaviour traits.
Since completing the programme, 88 per cent of participants said they have more confidence and self-belief, over half reported that they have taken on more responsibility (58 per cent) and a fifth of participants (18 per cent) moved to a new role.
The programme helps to address the three main barriers around attracting, progressing and retaining female in the sector identified by Semta research as - lack of career planning, lack of confidence and poor organisational visibility.
For further information on Career Advancement and Progression or Semta's skills support to grow business, please call Semta on 0845 643 9001 or email customerservices@semta.org.uk or visit www.semta.org.uk
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