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spring 2009
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Closing the Gender Skills Gap in the UKBy Katherine Chapman More needs to be done to challenge young women’s perceptions about traditionally ‘male’ sectors – currently only approximately 1 in 40 of engineering apprentices are women, despite these sectors experiencing severe skills shortages. Better careers advice and media campaigns could help tackle gender stereotyping at a young age and encourage women into these high-skilled and highly paid occupations. Women often take time out of work to look after children or adults in need of care, making a valuable contribution to families, communities and society in the process. However, time away from the workforce limits the capacity for on-the-job learning and the acquisition of job-related skills, in turn impeding progression within the workplace. More can – and must – be done to help women who wish to balance their personal commitments with ongoing participation in the labour market. Closing the Gender Skills Gap in the UK proposes radically simplifying childcare support and introducing new measures to further embed flexible working in British workplace culture. Availability of flexible working options, such as part-time work, flextime and job sharing, greatly benefit women with parenting or caring commitments. Flexible working also benefits employers, who do not lose out on the talents of those unable to work a standard nine-to-five day.
Solicitor General, Vera Baird QC MP speaking at the launch event of the Closing the Gender Skills Gap in the UK Report. The UK population is ageing, and enhancing the skills of those already in the workforce is vital. Many women missed out on educational opportunities in the past and ensuring that women can access training opportunities and ‘up-skill’ is key for the UK’s future. Closing the Gender Skills Gap in the UK examines ways to increase women’s participation in adult education and training by ensuring that learning programmes meet women’s specific learning needs. Future negotiation of Train to Gain Sector Compacts should include a gender impact assessment, ensuring that the courses made available through Train to Gain are effective in engaging female learners. Whilst the Government has laid out a number of measures for ensuring that equality issues are taken into account as the apprenticeship programme expands, these do not include measures to ensure wide availability of part-time apprenticeships – and option that would be attractive to many women whose childcare or caring commitments preclude full-time work. The full report is available to download at www.skillsdevelopment.org/closing the skills gap Did you find the article useful? Vote now |
also in this issue...
back to... The UK is missing out on talent, with women working below their skill level and often in low-paid, low-skilled occupations. This could be contributing towards a cost of £15-£23 billion a year in lost GDP. Closing the Gender Skills Gap in the UK |
