Women and work: Boosting women’s skills and career prospects
The Women & Work Sector Pathways initiative finished 31 March 2011. From 1 April 2011 any Women and Work projects which continue will be funded through the Employer Investment Fund.
This page provides an overview of the Women and Work Sector Pathways initiative. This aimed to enable enable women to progress in traditionally male-dominated industries.
In response to recommendations made in the report Women and Work – ‘Shaping a Fairer Future’, the government initially invested £10 million, matched by contributions from employers, to provide skills training, development and support for women in sectors where they are currently under-represented.
It aimed to test new recruitment and career pathways for up to 10,000 women across nine different sectors or occupations throughout England. As a result of the success of Phase 1, the project will continued for a further three years with an investment of £15 million.
The glass ceiling still exists for women and only 33% of managers and senior officials are women. According to the Women and Work Commission, it is estimated that increasing women’s participation in the labour market and in higher grade roles could be worth £15 billion and £23 billion a year to the UK economy.
The specific aims of the programme were to:
- raise recruitment levels
- increase earning potential
- aid career progression
The were a number of SSCs involved in Phase 4 of Women and Work – Asset Skills, Cogent, Construction Skills, E U Skills, FSSC, Go Skills, IMI, Improve, Lantra, People 1st, SEMTA, Skillset, Skills for Justice.
Reports
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Evaluation of Women and Work Sector Pathways Initiative – Phase 1 (PDF, 925 Kb) . This report presents the findings from quantitative surveys of employers and participants engaged with Phase 1 of the Women and Work Sector Pathways initiative.
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Evaluation of Women and Work Sector Pathways Initiative – Phase 2 (PDF, 7.9 Mb)
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Evaluation of Women and Work Sector Pathways Initiative – Phase 2 Executive Summary (PDF, 697 Kb)
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Evaluation of Women and Work Sector Pathways Initiative – Phase 3 Evaluation Report (PDF, 11.0 Mb)
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Women and Work Project Update – Sector Pathways Initiative – Phase 4 State Aid and Employer Contribution Guidance
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Women and Work Sector Pathways Initiative – Consultation (PDF, 277 Kb)
The WWSPI consultation is based on a rapid, targeted review of literature (Appendix 1) and interviews with twenty one stakeholders identified by the Commission (see Appendix 2).
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Qualitative Evaluation of the Women and Work Sector Pathways Initiative (PDF, 351 Kb)
This final report has been prepared by the Policy Research Institute (Leeds Metropolitan University) for the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. It complements an earlier Interim Report prepared and published by the Sector Skills Development Agency (SSDA) in November 2007.
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Women and Work – Shaping a Fairer Future (PDF, 1.0 Mb)
In the 30 years since the Equal Pay Act, there have been many advances in women’s position in society and at work. More women are in employment and occupy a greater number of senior positions. Girls are outperforming boys at school and their aspirations are high. Despite these important changes, the pay and opportunity gap for women remains.
Women and Work Case Studies
What next?
The Women and Work Sector Pathways initiative concluded on 31 March 2011. From 1 April 2011 any Women and Work projects which continue will be funded through the Employer Investment Fund
