SCOTLAND's flagship training scheme has been accused of reinforcing gender segregation by a government watchdog.

Just one in 50 modern apprenticeships in the construction or engineering industries have gone to women, according to a study by Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

Men have made headway in getting places in "traditionally female" programmes such as care, but women remain excluded from heavy industry in Scotland despite progress elsewhere in the UK.

The EHRC said Scotland was now the only part of Britain where men's access to apprenticeships was higher than women's.

Alastair Pringle, the commission's Scottish director, said: "It is disappointing to see that the profile of apprenticeship opportunities is a very old one - men doing the "heavy work" like building; women doing the "softer work" like caring and teaching; and disabled people not having much work at all."

Only 74 of the 26,000 places created under the scheme go to people with disabilities. Only 2% have gone to minorities, who make up about 3.7% of the population.

Labour's Jenny Marra MSP said the report, compiled with the help of Heriot Watt University, was "damning".

She said: "To find that there is such gender imbalance, with young people from ethnic minority backgrounds and with a disability being vastly under-represented, should sound alarm bells in government, in skills agencies and across Scottish businesses.

"The most frightening element of the report is that this inequality is known, recognised but is left untackled and unaddressed."

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: "The past two years have seen more than 25,000 new Modern Apprentices starting annually, with almost 43% of all apprenticeship starts in 2012/13 being women, up from 27% in 2008/09.

"However, we recognise more needs to be done to ensure all elements of Scottish society are better represented across our workforce."