The UK still has significant cultural changes to make before women can expect equality in careers according to recruitment expert, Clarico.
Jamie Town, Director of the recruitment, training and resources specialist, would like to see an attitude overhaul towards women both in male dominated industries and in schools.
“Whilst no one would ever admit it sexism is still rife in certain industries – we recently placed a female fork lift truck driver with a local company and they had no female toilets on site, thankfully her employer quickly resolved the matter but this oversight clearly shows the issues we encounter on a regular basis in these industries.”
Jamie believes that it is too late by the time a girl turns 16 to encourage them to commence employment in a traditionally male environment.
A recent report by leading think tank, Demos, compares industries such as engineering and manufacturing which have mostly male apprentices with to those dominated by females such as hairdressing and social care, and reveals a pay gap of £8,400.
Clarico which was founded in 2007 through the Prince’s Trust programme has seen a shortfall in the skillset in the logistics industry – Jamie believes that this is partly due to the industry being dominated by males. Less than 1% of the logistics workforce in the UK is female.
Jamie explained, “Girls are simply not considering a career in logistics and other male dominated industries largely due to attitudes throughout school. More work needs to be done in schools to broaden the minds of children in relation to suitable careers in the local area.”
He does not believe that it is simply a case of placing a girl on a 12 month engineering apprenticeship but more about how the country can get enough girls working in engineering long term so that they can be become Directors of these businesses and drive equality from board level.