Ladies first (equal opportunities)
Ladies first (equal opportunities)
Grainge Z. Personnel Today, 31 October 2006, Start page: 18 (3 pages)
Purpose – To look briefly at ways in which industries that are traditionally male-dominated are attempting to attract more women into the workforce. Design/methodology/approach – Gives some statistics as to the proportion of women in the utility industry (only 2.8 per cent of registrations in 2004 were made up of women), the IT industry (20 per cent), the construction industry (of the two million workers, only 190,000 are women), and the Fire Service (3 per cent). Mentions the “Women in Networks” scheme set up by the National Grid (80 per cent men) in order to make the company a place where women want to work, and points out that there is a “compelling”business case for proactively seeking to recruit and retain women, for example to reflect the customer base and to address the “dire skills shortages”which characterize industries such as construction. Outlines some of the reasons why retention can be a problem in male-dominated workplaces such as the Fire Service (which is struggling to meet its target to have women comprise 15 per cent of its staff by 2009) and in the IT industry, and provides a very short profile of one woman in a man’s world, a female construction planner who is working towards an HNC qualification in Construction Management. Originality/value – Puts a spotlight on the failure of some industries to diversify their workforces and the potential consequences of this failure. ISSN:0959-5848 Reference: 36AB038
Keywords: Construction industry, Equal opportunities, Fire services,Recruitment, Retention, Women
