7/11/2008 6:47:00 AM
The Times 11 July
Recruiting more women into traditional male occupations such as plumbing and engineering could help to solve the acute skills shortages crippling parts of British industry, the Government said yesterday as it launched a scheme to persuade more girls into a career in construction. Although the number of young people on apprenticeships has doubled in the past decade, female apprentices have made few inroads into industries dominated by men. Only 2 per cent of engineering and plumbing apprenticeships are held by women. To counter this, the Government said yesterday that it wanted to encourage young women to think about becoming electricians or plumbers instead of hairdressers or childminders. John Denham, the Skills Secretary, said: “At present, nearly half of all apprentices are women . . . But we need to go further. We need more women to take up apprenticeships, especially in areas such as engineering and construction, to tackle current skills shortages.” The minister was speaking at the national appren ticeship awards last night. Seven out of the 12 winners were women, three from industries with a predominantly male workforceTimes
FE/HE/ Skills
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