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Women and Work: Boosting Women's Skills & Career Prospects

Unleashing women's potential in the workplace could add up to £23 billion to the economy. The Women & Work Sector Pathways initiative, managed by the UK Commission, aims to 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 is investing £10 million, matched by contributions from employers, to provide skills training, development and support for women in sectors where they are currently under-represented.

Its aims are 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 now continue 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 are to:

raise recruitment levels
increase earning potential
aid career progression

The current SSCs involved in Phase 4 of Women and Work are:

Asset Skills
Cogent
Construction Skills
E U Skills
FSSC
Go Skills
IMI
Improve
Lantra
People 1^st
SEMTA
Skillset
Skills for Justice

Shaping a Fairer Future

WWC (2009) Shaping a Fairer Future. A review of the recommendations of the Women and Work Commission three years on. Women and Work Commission online

Women urged to skill for victory in battle to beat recession

Women and Work Project Update - Sector Pathways Initiative Phase Four

State Aid and Employer Contribution Guidance (85 Kb)

Women and Work Publications

Evaluation of Women and Work Sector Pathways Initiative
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
This report presents the findings of the Phase 2 Evaluation of Women and Work Sector Pathways Initiative.
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Evaluation of Women and Work Sector Pathways Initiative – Phase 2 Executive Summary
This is the executive summary report for the Phase 2 Evaluation of Women and Work Sector Pathways Initiative.
DownloadPDF, 698 Kb
Evaluation of Women and Work Sector Pathways Initiative – Phase 3 Evaluation Report
This is the Evaluation report for the Final Phase 3 of the Women and Work Sector Pathways Initiative.
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Qualitative Evaluation of the Women and Work Sector Pathways Initiative
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.
DownloadPDF, 352 Kb
Women and Work - Shaping a Fairer Future
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.
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Women and Work Sector Pathways Initiative - Consultation
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).
DownloadPDF, 278 Kb