A new survey from British Gas has revealed that almost half of young women (48 per cent) do not consider working in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) sectors when planning their future careers.
The research involved over 2,000 young people aged between 15 and 22. It found that women are turning their back on these sectors for a variety of reasons, including a lack of STEM knowledge (30 per cent), a perception that the industries are sexist (13 per cent), and a belief that STEM careers are better suited to the opposite sex (9 per cent).
“There are some fantastic opportunities for both women and men in these sectors, so I’m concerned to hear that so many young women are put off by careers in science, technology, engineering and maths,” said Claire Miles, managing director for HomeCare at British Gas.
“With boys already taking advantage of the apprenticeship opportunities available, I would encourage girls to think about engineering. Apprenticeships are a great way into an organisation, and at British Gas they allow you to earn while you learn and develop skills for life.”
Women made up just 4 per cent of applicants for technical and engineering apprenticeship schemes with British Gas last year. The company says it is taking steps to encourage more women into the industry, including hosting open days aimed at women, and launching a new mentoring programme.
Elsewhere, the research also highlighted a gap in salary expectations between young men and women. On average, young women expect to earn £29,880 by the time they are 30, while young men expect to earn £33,251. Women also worried more about their future, with 73 per cent admitting they feared they would struggle to find a job in the future.
I have two engineering graduate daughters and the problems are manifold. Simple things like no ladies toilets, uniforms that are huge, men not including them in the office chat because they dont know how to treat them, attitude that they only got the job because they are a woman, assuming that they will not want to do the hard physical jobs, etc, etc. Men just need to accept them as engineers- not as a gender issue, and I am afraid that the problems are mostly amongst the older engineers, who are wonderfully polite and kindly, but fail to see them as one of the lads, and so exclude them.
It isn’t a perception that the industry is sexist. The industry IS sexist. In 5 years in engineering I have experienced countless sexist jokes, no female toilets or showers, pornographic images of women on walls in the factory and offices. Men automatically address questions to other men, even if it means asking someone much more junior who wouldn’t know the answers. Men have requested I ‘check with the engineer’ despite signing my e-mails with my job title. Men who do support female engineers do so deliberately, saying things like ‘I actually think female engineers are better than men’. After I have children there will be no option for me to work part time. Despite all this I believe my current workplace to be quite female friendly compared to other engineering firms I have visited. There won’t be more women in engineering until industry changes enough that it doesn’t matter if an engineer is a man or a woman.