JLR doubles its commitment to women workers

Semta – the Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies – which is behind the initiative, said it was supporting women at Jaguar Land Rover to further their careers. Motor manufacturing was an industry traditionally dominated by men, it said, but Jaguar Land Rover was starting to redress the balance. Initially, JLR put forward 42 female managers to take part in the initiative and has now doubled its commitment to the programme after seeing a range of benefits, including networking, public speaking, and mentoring. JLR's Tim Davis, who is the initiative's Board-level champion, said: "We recognise there is talent within the business and we want to equip our female leaders with the right skills to promote themselves within an engineering environment. It's about fulfilling potential. The Women and Work programme has given individuals the confidence to ask the right questions and to think about what they want from their careers. It's not just about promotion, it's about enabling women to see what success looks like for them, as an individual." Semta chief executive Philip Whiteman (pictured) said recent research had revealed that the UK's science, manufacturing and engineering sectors will need more than 200,000 recruits between 2010-2016, to replace those who retire and to meet the new demand from rapidly growing sectors such as advanced manufacturing. "Women will play an increasingly important role in filling the skills gaps," he added.