31-03-2008
TUC highlights apprenticeship gender divide
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A new survey by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has identified a gender divide among the UK's apprenticeships.
The TUC has found that, despite an increase in the number of apprenticeship schemes for women overall, numbers still fall behind those available for their male counterparts in certain sectors of the economy.
"Apprenticeships are an excellent route into work and we want to see more and more employers offering high quality places," said Frances O'Grady, deputy general secretary for the TUC, an organisation established in 1868.
"Too many young women are being limited to apprenticeships in low-paid traditionally female occupations like childcare and hairdressing."
In particular, the organisation's report - entitled Still More (Better Paid) Jobs for the Boys - has highlighted that an increase in the number of places for women has not occurred in the better paid professions, such as construction and engineering.
Indeed, it was found that a total of 1.3 per cent of women have joined apprenticeship schemes within the construction sector for the period between 2006 and 2007.