A report by the US Manufacturing Institute
(www.themanufacturinginstitute.org) has found that only 26% of the manufacturing workforce is female, compared to nearly 50% generally.
Minding the Manufacturing Gender Gap, based on the survey responses of 600 women working at all levels of manufacturing, suggests that companies could make themselves more attractive to women by “making a concerted effort to recruit them through their social networks; retaining them through mentorships; better pay; and more flexible hours”.
Gardner Carrick, vice-president of strategic initiatives at the Manufacturing Institute, said: “If we can begin to close the gender gap, it will be possible to simultaneously close the skills gap.”
The report found that 65% of the women who responded said that their company does not have “an active recruitment programme to attract potential female employees”, and 73% believe that women are “under-represented on their companies’ leadership teams”.
Meanwhile, 30% of women rated their company’s efforts at female recruitment as “poor or very poor,” and 26% thought the same of female retention efforts.
Mr Carrick added: “It really does require executive support and commitment to make the recruitment and retention of women successful.
“When the CEO says: ‘This is a top priority for us, and we are going to base part of our performance on whether or not we’re successful in recruiting women,’ then it becomes something that is on the mind of their employees from day to day.
“If it’s not a priority of the CEO, then it’s not something that gets the attention — or the necessary budget — to ensure success. We need to change that.”