Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Equality, diversity and inclusionSex discrimination

Where will the new scientists come from?

by Ross Wigham 5 Dec 2006
by Ross Wigham 5 Dec 2006

Changing entrenched stereotypes about the sort of careers that are seen as the preserve of men could help employers to reap a range of business benefits. And changing attitudes is now becoming essential as firms struggle with the UK skills crisis.

A lack of female recruits across a whole range of traditionally male-dominated professions can probably be traced back to school days, when girls could be turned off particular subjects, or even whole careers.

Science, engineering and technology employers are now looking at new ways of becoming more diverse, after a recent conference highlighted a number of barriers facing women and people from ethnic minorities.

Delegates at Newcastle University’s GEM-SET – Gender and Ethnic Minority Issues in Science, Engineering & Technology conference were told that employers and academics are now visiting schools and colleges in a bid to get young girls interested in science, engineering and technology careers and create a ‘talent ladder’ for the future.

Professor Christopher Edwards, vice-chancellor of Newcastle University, said the first step was dismissing the old stereotypes and attracting more female students to subjects where there is a gender bias.

“There’s an extraordinary series of stereotypes around science, and it’s important that we create a ladder of talent for the future,” he said.

Professor Steve Raynor, who heads a £6m project looking at the role of science in society, said the glass ceiling in science, engineering and technology careers was preventing women from getting to the top table.

“You often find the gender split at lower levels is pretty good, but this does not transfer to the management or strategic parts of the company,” he said.

The problems seem to start at school because subjects associated with these careers are considered to be male dominated.

Perversely, girls perform better than boys in these subjects at A-level, but a lack of positive role models and a poor perception of future careers start to erode the number of candidates.

However, there are also huge problems in the workplace, with more than 50,000 qualified female scientists not using their skills in the jobs market.

More worryingly, a lack of proactive HR policies seem to be hampering women once they start a career – although 24,000 women returned to work after having a child, only 8,000 went back to their science, engineering and technology careers.

“Women are perceived as a huge cost burden and there are many serious disadvantages facing them in the workplace,” said Annette Williams, director of the UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology.

She argues that there is a huge economic imperative to engage with women and, with an estimated shortfall of 300,000 science, engineering and technology recruits over the next few years, employers must start changing now.

Improved childcare measures, the promotion of positive female role models and a root-and-branch review of management systems are now essential if more female engineers, scientists and technicians are to be successfully integrated.

“Recruitment is a problem, we’re losing women from science and the ones that are there are failing to progress,” she says. “Employers in the scientific world need to promote good HR policies and cultural change.”

Elsewhere, the government is hoping that a new £10m scheme can help women of all ages to find new careers in sectors such as construction or logistics, which have often been seen as the sole preserve of men.

The two-year initiative is being run by five of the Sector Skills Councils, and is designed to help 10,000 women find new careers in areas where they are traditionally under-represented.

Government Women and Equality Unit


 

Avatar
Ross Wigham

previous post
Police force denies decapitation e-mail is a reflection of racism
next post
Trade secrets: dealing with alcohol problems at work

You may also like

Christian doctor loses transgender pronoun case, but beliefs...

29 Jun 2022

Attracting diverse young talent to the ‘secret’ world...

28 Jun 2022

Gender pay gap ‘won’t close until 2151’

27 Jun 2022

Don’t be gloomy over social mobility in the...

24 Jun 2022

Bias stopping STEM professionals returning after career break

23 Jun 2022

Black, Asian and LGBTQ+ workers ‘overlooked’ at work

20 Jun 2022

UK in urgent need of female tradespeople finds...

17 Jun 2022

CIPD Festival of Work: ‘Businesses will fail if...

16 Jun 2022

Construction blighted by skills shortage as sector steps...

16 Jun 2022

Google to pay $118m to settle equal pay...

15 Jun 2022
  • NSPCC revamps its learning strategy with child wellbeing at its heart PROMOTED | The NSPCC’s mission is to prevent abuse and neglect...Read more
  • Diversity versus inclusion: Why the difference matters PROMOTED | It’s possible for an environment to be diverse, but not inclusive...Read more
  • Five steps for organisations across the globe to become more skills-driven PROMOTED | The shift in the world of work has been felt across the globe...Read more
  • The future of workforce development PROMOTED | Northumbria University and partners share insight...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+