WOMEN WORKING IN MALE DOMINATED SECTORS

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Not just jobs for the boys: the women working in male-dominated sectors

Ellen Manning
4 February, 2020

An apprenticeship is for anyone. But what about when you’re a woman entering a sector that’s male-dominated? According to UK government figures, 49% of apprenticeships in 2017/18 were started by women and 51% by men. This is the first time that more apprenticeships had been started by men than women since 2009/10. That may sound like it isn’t an , but that’s not the whole picture. A report in 2017 by the Young Women’s Trust not only highlighted that male apprentices earned more than women – £7.25 versus £6.67 per hour – but that women apprentices work in few sectors. “In key sectors such as engineering, there are 25 times more men than women,”it warned.

It’s a situation Evie Hammond saw for herself. She is in her third year of an apprenticeship as an instrumentation, control and automation engineer at Severn Trent. The 21-year-old had taken A levels but decided university wasn’t for her. Because she was interested in electrical engineering, she applied for an instrumentation apprenticeship at Severn Trent, but it was when she started the apprenticeship that the reality of being a woman hit her. “I expected engineering would be male-dominated, but I didn’t realize quite how male-dominated it would be.”

Hammond, who did her training at the Make UK Technology Hub, said: “I’m the only girl on the team, but they don’t treat me any differently. Some of the jobs are physically challenging, but I get the same as everyone else.” She is accepted at work, but says people are surprised when they hear she works at a sewage-treatment works. “I say: ‘I’m an engineer’, and they say: ‘No, you’re not; you’re female’.”

 She’s not alone. When Tia Boulton-Crowe, 21, started an apprenticeship in land-based technology, including working with farm machinery, not everyone accepted her choice. “There was a lot of judgement before people really knew who I was and what I knew. But once I myself, I gained so much respect.”

Of course, there are physical challenges, too – something maritime apprentice Stacy Gregory experienced. Gender imbalance is high in her sector – only 2% of seafarers are women. Gregory, who recently graduated from P Ferries’ apprenticeship scheme, says: “There was a lot of heavy work involved, which was a bit hard, like pulling heavy ropes along decks and throwing heaving lines. I definitely feel you have to prove yourself more as a woman in a male-dominated industry. I just had to get stuck in.”

Getting stuck in is exactly what got welder Chloe Sales, 24, her apprenticeship in the first place. Sales, who was named 2020’s Stem Apprentice of the Year by Stoke-on-Trent College – where she was the only apprentice female welder – says: “I was working in a , and they didn’t have enough welders, so I said: ‘Will you let me a go?’” She enjoyed it so much her employer offered her an apprenticeship. For her, the fear is that being a woman will mean she’s treated differently. “When I first started, I think they were nice to me because I was a girl, but when I’d been there a few months, I said: ‘Give me some of the jobs’.”

It’s clearly possible for women to work in male- dominated sectors, but could it be easier? The Young Women’s Trust report asked the government to give extra payments to employers that employ women apprentices in male-dominated sectors. It also said employers should set targets, reserve places on training courses for women and change the language they use in job adverts.

One company actively trying to attract more women is Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR). Just 5% of Britain’s 19,000 train drivers are women, and GTR is trying to change that. Its target is that by 2021 at least 40% of applicants for train driver roles will be female. Its steps to achieve this include a school outreach programme, all-female assessment centres for trainee drivers and a Women’s Network Group that pairs new female employees with another woman in the company.

But for some female apprentices, success is more about their own than external influences. “As a woman in this type of job, you have to be able to hold your own, have a good sense of humour, laugh at yourself and definitely be strong ,” says Gregory. Boulton-Crowe agrees. “It was daunting being a female going into a ‘man’s world’, but I learned so much. I became a stronger and more confident person. Apprenticeships are a great way to get your foot in the door – you’re learning while being paid.

Sometimes you are thrown at the deep end, but it’s 100% the best way to learn, even though it’s scary!”


First published in The Guardian, 04/02/20

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