ETB champions women

Published:  22 June, 2009

The Engineering and Technology Board (ETB) has responded to the CBI's 'Emerging stronger" survey, and its assertion that there is high employer demand for both Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM) employees, and work-ready employees with basic literacy and numeracy skills, by highlighting the vast, untapped potential of the thousands upon thousands of young women who meet all these requirements, yet shy away from STEM careers.

ETB chief executive, Paul Jackson, said: "We know that broadly speaking, young women consistently demonstrate better numeracy, literacy and science skills than young men at age 16, and yet we also know that a quarter of careers advisors associate science and engineering careers with men. Therefore the most effective way to close the numeracy, literacy and other industrial skills gaps identified by Science and Engineering employers, is to improve careers advice, tackle gender stereotypes, and prevent so many skilled young women being lost to science and engineering."