Works Management launches Females in Factories campaign

The Females in Factories initiative will fight the myth of manufacturing as a male only pursuit, which exacerbates skills shortages and damages global competitiveness. We aim to recruit 25 female manufacturing champions to visit schools and promote careers in industry. The Females in Factories campaign will also feature profiles of inspiring female manufacturing employees beginning with NCT Leather's Kirsty Wainwright (pictured) who is blazing a trail for women in manufacturing at the Scottish firm. The campaign follows damning industry statistics showing women make up just 5% of managers and 22% of employees in advanced manufacturing firms. Meanwhile, almost 80% of manufacturing firms reported chronic skills shortages in WM's 2013 People and Productivity report Females in Factories will complement a national government 'Your Life' campaign launched this month which sets out national ambitions for greater participation in science, technology, engineering and maths among women. Females in Factories drew instant backing from industry leaders. Professor John Perkins, Chief Scientific Adviser, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, commented: "Works Management's Females in Factories campaign is a great example of industry creating closer links with education to engage more female pupils in engineering. Showcasing positive female role models will illustrate the possibilities open to women in engineering and also raise aspirations of the many talented female engineers working in the UK." Sarah Sillars, chief executive of sector skills council Semta, added: "Semta is delighted to support WM's Females in Factories campaign. We need more female role models to show young girls the plethora of opportunity on offer in manufacturing and engineering. Half of the UK workforce is female so there is a wealth of untapped talent just waiting to be added to the skills pipeline. A pipeline which must be kept flowing if the UK is to remain world class in manufacturing." Closing the gender imbalance in engineering could bolster GDP by 10% by 2030 according to The Women's Business Council. For more details of the Females in Factories campaign, call Max Gosney on 01322 221144 or email mgosney@findlay.co.uk