Women workers in the south west’s fashion and textiles industry could be climbing the career ladder over the next nine months, thanks to a special programme which aims to tackle the gender agenda.
While women account for 52% of the workforce in the fashion and textiles sector, research shows that women occupy just 37% of the top jobs, whilst overall pay for women in the manufacturing part of the sector is 18% lower than for men.
Skillfast-UK, the Sector Skills Council for fashion and textiles, is trying to address the issue through an initiative called Women & Work, which will provide training grants of up to £500 per person to help women to learn the skills for success.
Skillfast-UK’s Sue Green is managing the programme and she commented: “This is the third time that we have run the Women & Work initiative and the results in previous years have been fantastic. Last time, more than 61 ladies in the south west learned highly-valued technical skills, and it is not uncommon for people on the programme to move from the factory-floor into management positions.”
