BRITISH GLASS SIGNS UP TO GOVERNMENT STEM CAMPAIGN
13th May 2014

The British Glass Manufacturers’ Confederation has through its Women in Manufacturing initiative, signed up to Government’s Compact agreement to encourage female participation in technology and engineering.

Launched at London’s Science Museum by Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, the Government set out its national ambitions for greater participation in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), especially amongst women, to be achieved through a national campaign by government departments, civil society, private companies and educational institutions, called ‘Your Life’.
As part of this campaign, Women in Manufacturing has pledged to take action and support a change in how women and girls are encouraged to consider technology and engineering careers and the subject choices or vocational pathways that lead to them.

Education Minister, Elizabeth Truss, said; “Rising numbers of people are taking maths and physics A levels – but it is still very low. Too many teenagers, especially girls, don’t realise that maths and physics get you everywhere. They have the highest earnings and can open doors to careers in business, journalism, technology, engineering - in fact anything you can probably think of.
 
“That is why I’m so pleased to see some of the UK’s top businesses and organisations showing their commitment by signing the ‘Your Life’ call to action and committing to recruit more science and maths students. Together we can ensure young people have the skills they need to succeed in life and help the UK compete on a global scale.”

Dave Dalton, CEO of British Glass, said: “Our pledge announced today commits to launch a Charter in 2014, backed by some 100 livery companies of the City of London, which will see businesses take on c.100 young female apprenticeships each year across many different professions.

“Through this pledge, we are contributing to the national aspirations to boost the number of women pursuing careers in engineering and technology and through working in partnership with educators, industry and government, to increase the number of young people studying maths and physics at A Level.”

Nadja Swarovski, Patron of Women in Manufacturing and Member of the Swarovski Executive Board, added: “At Swarovski, around two-thirds of our workforce are women and we employ over 8,700 women in manufacturing. We fully support this commitment to encourage women to take up careers in industries such as ours and we are delighted that the British Glass pledge is to increase female participation in Apprenticeships across the ‘traditional’ professions, including manufacturing and engineering.”

Dr Andrew Parmley, Master of the Worshipful Company of Glass Sellers, commented: “We are delighted to have partnered with British Glass on this exciting campaign and I am personally overseeing the creation of this Charter so that we as Livery Companies can be at the forefront of the dynamic drive to make significant impact to redress the balance of women in STEM careers.”

A sub-project of British Glass, the trade association for the UK glass industry, Women in Manufacturing is a not-for-profit initiative driven by a programme of cultural change to bring about a shift in the thinking of industry’s senior people. The aim is to bring together the UK manufacturing and engineering community and engineer networks to attract, support and retain women into the sector, encouraging diversity and increasing the UK talent pool by raising the number of women in industry at all levels and across career disciplines.

www.yourlife.org.uk