THE Scottish Government has set colleges a target to increase the minority gender share in each of the 10largest and most imbalanced subjects by five percentage points by 2021. By 2030, the Scottish Funding Council is asking all colleges to ensure that no subject has an extreme gender imbalance of more than 75:25. The widest gaps are in subjects like engineering, computing, construction, care and hairdressing.
At a time when high quality, high value jobs abound in sectors like digital and engineering, women persistently shun these. Similarly, while there is major jobs growth in health, social care and early years, the number of males continues to be low. Tackling gender imbalance for Ayrshire College is not about political correctness (Letters, September 4), it is about ensuring that all people regardless of gender have the opportunity to pursue any career.
Our This Ayrshire Girl Can campaign encourages females to choose careers in science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) – fields traditionally dominated by men. One aspect of that campaign is to promote positive role models to inspire young women. Role models like Anna, who works at Spirit Aerosystems, and is a finalist in this year’s Scottish Apprenticeships Awards. Anna completed her training at the college and, supported by her employer, acts as an ambassador encouraging school pupils into STEM.
Tackling gender imbalance in careers is most often spoken about in the context of attracting females into Stem. However, that’s only half the story. It is also about encouraging boys and men into female-dominated sectors like care, early years and hairdressing, and we do this through campaigns like This Man Cares which highlight male student role models.
Students like former footballer, Martin, who studied Access to Nursing to gain the entry requirements he needed to start a nursing degree at university. He said “I decided to take a big step and train as a nurse. It’s a far cry from where I was when I left school at sixteen to play professional football!”
And students like Paul who swapped his job of 16 years as a driver to study childcare and now works with 3 to 6 year-old children. He plans to go to university to study BA Childhood Studies.
Achieving the stretching targets set for colleges requires shifting deeply ingrained social and cultural stereotypes. Sparking an interest in careers at a young age is critical and, increasingly, our efforts focus on school pupils and those who influence their subject and career choices.
Taking gender out of the careers equation won’t happen overnight and success is only possible with sustained long-term action from all who have a stake in this, including schools, colleges, universities and employers.
Jackie Galbraith,
Ayrshire College, Hill Street, Kilmarnock.
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