| Although there are more women entering the trades | | | | sceptical about the level of progress made and state |
| than ever before, it has been brought to attention | | | | that there is still a gender divide in the work place. |
| that still more needs to be done in order to give | | | | Employers taking steps to deal with gender divide |
| these women the help and encouragement they | | | | Many employers have responded to the situation by |
| need to succeed within these male-dominated | | | | taking some positive steps forward in preventing this |
| environments. | | | | discrimination. For example, Construction Skills ran a |
| The heating industry has undergone a period of great | | | | national advertising campaign to promote the |
| change as the government has proposed new policies | | | | construction industry as a attractive and lucrative |
| and developed new technologies such as renewables. | | | | career option for women. |
| This transitionary period has brought with it a | | | | In addition, British Gas have also taken some steps |
| requirement to build upon its work force by adding | | | | forward in order to dis-encourage this gender |
| new and additional skills. Nowadays it should be easier | | | | stereotype. They did this by trebling the number of |
| than ever before for women to not only get trained | | | | women starting an apprenticeship in order to redress |
| for specialist roles, but a wide range of roles within | | | | the balance. |
| the industry. | | | | Are women themselves not that interested? |
| Preventing gender divides in the industry | | | | Many of the UK construction and engineering |
| Although it cannot be argued that there are more | | | | companies have claimed that despite initiatives to |
| women working in the industry now than ever | | | | encourage more women to enter the industry, job |
| before, there are still gender obstacles and other | | | | applications from women are still low. It was found |
| stereotypes that are preventing women from | | | | that despite 80% of women saying that they would |
| reaching the top. According to The Women and | | | | be interested in going down a non-traditional career |
| Work Commission (WWC), the gender pay gap has | | | | path, the applications coming in are still low. |
| actually widened to 22.6% from 21.9% in 2007. | | | | Many of the critics argue that the gender |
| One way of tackling this problem is to encourage | | | | stereotypes begin at school where not enough is |
| women to get into adult apprenticeships. The | | | | done to promote non-traditional careers for girls. On |
| government has taken a massive step forward in | | | | the plus side, there are some organisations that are |
| spending over 1 billion on apprenticeships and the | | | | set up for the purpose of encouraging these women |
| reaction to this development has been positive. | | | | to enter non-traditional career paths. For instance, the |
| However, although the government has been | | | | Women in Science & Construction (WISE) is set |
| working hard in developing strategies in order to get | | | | up to encourage young girls up to the age of 19 to |
| more women into the industry, some organizations | | | | pursue careers in science, engineering and |
| claim that there is still a long way to go and not | | | | construction. |
| enough is being done. For example the WWC are still | | | | |