Everything but the girl

We urgently need to attract a critical mass of high-calibre women into manufacturing if we are to counter the looming skills shortage and turbocharge our factories' competitiveness. Doing that means starting early – at school. That's why Works Management has launched its Females in Factories campaign (see page 7), backed by government and industry organisations. The campaign aims to recruit 25 female manufacturing champions to visit schools and promote careers in industry. It will also feature profiles of inspiring female manufacturing employees. Visiting schools and changing perceptions of manufacturing among teachers, students and parents is a vital first step to encourage more women into factories. Among STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) teachers interviewed by EngineeringUK, 44% of those who believed engineering was an undesirable career for their students still saw it as a job for the boys. Even among women who work as engineers, three quarters believe engineering is still regarded as a male career. As Danni Turnbull, of the Women in Manufacturing campaign, says: "A lack of empowering careers advice means girls at a young age often dismiss careers perceived as male dominated and stick to the social stereotypes and cultural expectations society has created. We need to introduce young people at primary level to viable and exciting manufacturing careers." Doubtless, misogynist dinosaurs will disagree, but there is a pressing and increasing need for UK manufacturing to attract, retain and advance more women. We can't afford to exclude 50% of the potential workforce and still expect the sector to remain vibrant and competitive.