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The Rt. Hon. Patricia HewittKeele University |
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| As the Cabinet Minister for Women and for Science, and as a life long campaigner for women's rights, I am absolutely delighted to be here today.
On my way to the university, I was thinking about some of the hurdles that women have to overcome to succeed in their chosen field – glass ceilings, sticky floors, closed doors, and on occasion, outright discrimination. Yet we rarely, if ever, celebrate the times when women overcome these hurdles. So it is a real pleasure to have been asked to speak as part of a programme to 'celebrate' women. A programme that acknowledges the hurdles women face, and that positively encourages women's career aspirations. I firmly believe that all women should have the chance to play their full role in economic life, as well as in public life more generally. This is clearly for the benefit of both the individuals themselves, as well as the economic productivity of the country. Women make up nearly half the workforce and just over half the population, but are too often concentrated in low paid jobs. It seems that the higher up the scale you go, the fewer women there are. For instance, there are 43 FT 100 companies with no women directors. Yet I know that there are plenty of women out there with the necessary skills and talents. Hence the importance of programmes like the one that we are taking part in today. Programmes that will encourage women to come forward and fill those top jobs. I hope that the success of the programme here will inspire other universities to follow suit. WOMEN INTO SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Last month, I spoke at two events, both of which looked at the number of women in science, engineering and technology. It is vital that we understand why girls are turned off by IT as a career option, and why they seem not to connect with it as well as boys. And that is why we need more initiatives like the one here at Keele, which aims to increase the numbers of women technology and science graduates. The fact that two of the six heads of department in the science faculty are women, sends a positive message to young women that they can be just as successful as men. Because at the minute, the figures make depressing reading. Of the 1.3 million SET graduates, 290,000 are women. Women make up a fifth of computing graduates (a number that has been falling since 1994), although girls continue to outperform boys in computing at GCSE and A level. Worse still, the proportion of women in the IT sector is falling – only 22% are women. In software engineering, women account for only 8% of the workforce. It's time we started switching bright and talented girls on to science and technology and where better to start than in schools. I know for instance that in March, you are running 'Girl Power', a science day for schools to raise awareness of science opportunities for women. But the Government is also doing its bit. We are funding a series of events during science week, setting up computer clubs for girls and sending science and engineering ambassadors into classrooms to encourage more young women to choose these subjects as careers. We have also launched a website offering comprehensive advice about how to get into the IT industry, and there are plans to develop a service matching students interested in gaining work experience with IT employers. In addition, up to £1 million has been set aside for the IT sector from the Work:Life Balance Challenge Fund, to allow IT companies to bid for money to help them develop more family friendly policies. That is why I am committed to keeping the unit in my department which focuses on science and engineering for another five years. And why I have asked Susan Greenfield to develop a powerful strategy by June this year. And why I was delighted to announce in January that, together with the Royal Society, we are establishing the Rosalind Franklin Medal to honour her contribution to science. WOMEN IN EDUCATION There is also a desperate need to increase the number of women heading up our education services, whether we are talking about schools, further education institutions or universities. We owe it to our young people and to the future of our country to make sure that we attract the most talented people into education. In universities, women professors are outnumbered almost ten to one by men, although Keele has one of the best records with over a fifth of women professorial staff – up from 8% only six years ago. And as Janet no doubt knows only too well, there are only about eight women vice-chancellors in over 100 universities in the UK. Overall, women make up about a third of all academics. But their position is much more precarious than that of men because about half are on fixed term contracts, compared to just over a third of men. They also earn less, with a gender pay gap which has increased recently from 15 to 16%. The retention of staff, particularly women, is also an issue we need to take seriously if we are to avoid a shortage of staff, particularly in science and engineering. So I am pleased that the Government has commissioned a review by Sir Gareth Roberts into the supply of skilled scientists and engineers in the UK. Increasing the number of women returners would go some way to resolving the problem. That is something that I have also looked at in a report that I launched last month. As a result, we are now looking at schemes to help women get work experience and update their skills in a learning environment. So the picture in the education sector is definitely getting better. There seems to be a growing acknowledgement at all levels that things need to change. I know that in the higher education sector, a Top Management Programme is being managed by the Higher Education Staff Development Agency (HESDA) for senior personnel, which reserves half the places for women, a substantial number of whom have already gone on to more senior positions. HESDA has also started to address the problem of work/life balance. This is particularly acute in the university sector because of the demands of 'executive dining' - a major element in the diary of senior academics which involves long hours socialising with other academics. All very well if you have no other home demands, but for women, who do five times as much domestic work as men and who are overwhelmingly responsible for looking after the children or arranging childcare facilities, this can be problematic. WORK:LIFE BALANCE And as a woman with a high profile job and two children, I understand the difficulties of trying to balance responsibilities at work and home. It is my firm belief that flexible working is the key to providing parents with choice about how they balance work and family lives. That is why it is my highest priority as Minister for Women and as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. I don't say this out of some soft sentimentality, but because I am convinced that flexibility is essential to tapping the full potential of women in the workforce. That, in turn, is the way to ensure increased productivity and greater success for our economy. The case is clear for employers. Flexible working may require a bit more effort, a bit more creativity, but can produce dividends. Take the example of Ditton Lodge First School in Newmarket which has a job share arrangement for two Year 4 teachers. The staff say that job sharing has had a positive effect on their work, and they have more energy to bring to their teaching than if they were working full time. I know that at Keele you have also recognised the benefits of flexible working by offering staff a range of different working practices. But flexible working arrangements on their own aren't always enough. Working parents have told us that they also want high quality, inexpensive childcare. By providing a large nursery on site that is open to the children of both staff and students, you have given yourselves a clear advantage in a competitive market. In the private sector, where productivity is more easily measured, companies with flexible work practices report higher morale among staff, lower abseenteeism, lower turnover (with associated lower recruitment costs) as well as lower sickness levels. In many cases, we need to change the culture in the workplace. And that can take a long time. That is why we are legislating so that employers have to seriously consider requests from parents of young children to work flexibly. We want to bring about change in five years – or less. Not 20 years or more. I am thinking in particular here of the case of WPC Michelle Chew, the policewoman I met who had many years' experience in child protection work, but whose employers said they could not find her a job that enabled her to combine her home responsibilities with her police work. The decision of the employment tribunal in her favour reflects a need for employers to take requests to work flexibly seriously. PAY GAP But although we have a long way to go, I think it is important to recognise that we have made progress over the last 20 years or so – whether we are talking about women in parliament, women in public life or women in business. If you can remember back that far – and unfortunately I can - there was a pay gap in 1975 which stood at a staggering 37%. 25 years later it is half that – at 18%. It is still too high, but it is narrowing all the time. And we are determined to take steps to reduce the pay gap even further. In the public sector we want to ensure that all departments and agencies carry out pay reviews. We are making it easier for women who think they have been discriminated against, by introducing equal pay questionnaires and by simplifying the tribunal system. We are also encouraging employers to carry out their own pay reviews, and I am glad that Keele is again leading the way by undertaking a review of potential pay disparity. We have increased the amounts of maternity leave and pay – the biggest changes in 40 years. And we have introduced paid paternity leave for fathers, many of whom are keen to take on a bigger role in bringing up their children. [DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT] But it is also important for women to play their proper role in public life, so we have introduced a Bill which will allow UK political parties to introduce positive measures to increase the number of women standing for election. We have had support from all the main political parties and it will receive Royal Assent very shortly. We are also taking action to increase the numbers of women appointed to prominent public bodies. There are around 1,000 public bodies in the UK offering thousands of public appointments, but only just over a third of them are held by women. We are committed to ensuring that women fill 45 - 50% of them, and are currently running a series of seminars to encourage women to put themselves forward for these posts. CONCLUSION I am proud of what the Government has done so far to make life better for women. But I will be even prouder of the transformation that I am determined to see in our working culture over the next five years. A transformation that will ensure that women are offered the same chances as men at work and in public life. A transformation that results in equal pay for work of equal value by men and women. And a transformation in the long hours culture that currently mitigates against women. My vision is of a society that affords equality to all its citizens, irrespective of their gender, so that we all benefit both as individuals and as a nation. I recognise the enormity of the challenge, but it is one that I am sure that we can meet if we continue to work together in partnership. I wish the Celebrating Women programme every success in the future. |
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Other speeches by The Rt. Hon. Patricia Hewitt
(the following are available from the archive) |
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