§ Dr. KumarTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps have been taken to provide female students at all levels with women role models who have succeeded in traditionally male dominated fields. [16265]
§ Margaret HodgeA number of steps have been taken, both by my Department and other Government Departments, as well as by institutions in the education sector, to provide both women and men with role models to encourage them to learn, train and work in non-traditional fields.
For example, as a result of a very successful pilot programme offering girls work experience in non-traditional work areas such as construction, engineering, IT and telecommunications, my Department is taking forward taster days for girls and is currently working with the national education business partnership network on a roll-out of the programme for girls at key stage 4.
The science and engineering ambassadors scheme is being launched in January 2002 as part of Science Year and has been jointly developed by DfES/DTI. It will give more young people the opportunity to interact with female role models who are practising scientists and engineers. The DTI, through the work programme of its promoting SET (science, engineering and technology) for women unit and engineering policy unit enables organisations such as the SETpoints, the careers education and business partnerships, Let's Twist at Bradford college and the WISE campaign to run events with women scientists and engineers, produce posters and magazines such as SPARK that promote positive images of women in non-traditional careers. Science Year is particularly targeting some of its resources and publicity at girls. For example, television advertisements and a careers video have featured girls and women. The faces of modern science photographic project includes a large number of role models for all under-represented groups and will result in the production of a book for use by careers advisers and ConneXions officers.
Many colleges and training providers are actively engaged in programmes to attract more women into male dominated fields and a number of initiatives funded by the European Social Fund involve the use of women role models. WISE, mentioned above, the Association for Women in Science and Engineering, the Women's Engineering Society and the British Council are all proactively using women role models from within industry as a mechanism for encouraging other women to study in non-traditional fields.
We are also encouraging men to undertake work in areas where they are under-represented, such as child care. The second phase of our national recruitment campaign, "Do Something You Love for a Living" is actively promoting the recruitment of men and people from ethnic minority backgrounds into the work force while placing a heavy emphasis on training and qualifications. We 70W featured a male nursery nurse in one of our advertisements and screened this at times when there was likely to be a large male audience. Men are also featured in the campaign booklet and accompanying case studies and research into the effectiveness of the campaign showed that the advert featuring the man was the best-recalled one. Aside from raising the status of working in the sector, the focus on training and qualifications should encourage more men to respond to the campaign.