FLEET, England, June 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
With 'National Women in Engineering Day'
approaching, the UK's leading independent job site, CV-Library,
reveals that 71.7% of female engineers believe young women are
unaware of the career opportunities available in the sector, which
is damaging the pipeline of female talent.
CV-Library asked 500 female engineers about opportunities in the
sector for women and discovered that 56.5% think engineering is
still viewed as a 'male' profession. Furthermore, 44.4% advised
there's a lack of female understanding around what engineering
entails, while 92.5% believe more women would work in the sector if
they were taught about it from an early age. Other responses
confirmed increased education would help close the inequality
gap:
- 60.4% believe engineering subjects should be offered in
schools
- 41.9% feel more profiling and education of engineering
would attract more women
- 45.4% think sector organisations working together to
promote diversity would raise the profile of women in
engineering
Lee Biggins, founder and managing
director of CV-Library, comments: "While there
are great opportunities in the sector
for women, we're seeing a severe
lack of female candidates applying to engineering roles.
In the last 6 months we had over 105,000 engineering jobs
advertised on the site, receiving over 2.1
million applications. However, only 9.2%
(202,666) of those came from female applicants.
"It's clear that changes
should be made further down the education system to
entice women into the sector. In the meantime
I'd encourage organisations in the
industry to use National Women in Engineering
Day as a platform to support equal opportunities,
diversify their recruitment strategies
and promote the great careers they have
to offer female engineers."
Narina Sekhon, project
coordinator at the Women's Engineering Society, adds:
"CV-Library's findings uncover the
realities of what it's like for women
working in the sector. But, there are
plenty of fantastic opportunities for women to embrace. We
launched this awareness day to raise the
profile of females in engineering and the amazing career
opportunities available in the sector.
By working with a range of organisations and
education bodies, we are taking steps to eliminate gender
barriers once and for all."
Access full research findings here:
http://www.cv-library.co.uk/recruitment-insight/report-women-engineering/
About CV-Library
CV-Library is one of the UK's largest online job sites and
attracts over 3.8 million unique job seekers every month.
http://www.cv-library.co.uk
Media Contact:
Press Office - Michelle Smithson
and Augusta Henning
press@cv-library.co.uk
+44-(0)1252-810-995