LTi Metaltech Champions the Need for More Female Leaders in Industry

According to a recent report bridging the UK gender gap could help generate an extra £150bn to the UK economy by 2025

 Award-winning precision fabrication and welding specialist LTi Metaltech claims more needs be done to increase the number of female leaders in UK industry, if it’s to benefit from the fullest breadth of talent available and help drive future economic growth. It’s certainly something LTi’s Quality Manager, Stevie Keen is aware of, having progressed into a senior role with the support of her fully inclusive and forward-thinking employer.

“While my own journey offers a good example of what can be achieved, there’s still much more that needs to be done if we are to see more women in leadership roles, especially in traditionally male-dominated industries such as fabrication and welding. A better work life balance across all sectors could be a good starting point, as the longer hours traditionally associated with higher level jobs, has previously put many women off. Recent moves to address this through more opportunities for flexible working and shared parental leave should help going forward.”

The gender imbalance in executive roles is currently a hot topic of debate with a range of industry commentators calling for action including the Chartered Management Institute who want to see another one-and-a-half million women in UK management roles by 2024 and the EU pushing for a 40% quota for women on company boards.  Even the Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling was recently heard calling for greater efforts to get more women to get into senior positions.

While Stevie feels boardroom opportunities for women are gradually improving, as a result of a subtle shift in management expectations leading to a less hierarchical and more supportive corporate environment, more could be done to help them aspire to leadership at an earlier age:

“I’m not certain that many women start out with leadership as their ultimate career goal, so much more needs to be done when they are younger to encourage them to make the right educational choices, which will open up opportunities for them in the future. This particularly applies to careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, where females are heavily underrepresented.”

Back in the boardroom. While the Government’s recent Gender Pay Gap survey is trying to bring a fairer deal to women in the workplace, currently the best avenue for them to reach the top still relies on having a supportive employer who wants to see greater equality in the workplace. And LTi are a great example of that, with the company’s Technical Director, Edgar Rayner passionate about keeping the gender equality drum beating.

“At LTi, we do everything we can to encourage women to join our engineering team, as ultimately it shouldn’t be about a person’s gender, but their ability to do the job. We feel that firms who are not doing enough to promote women are actually missing out on a deep pool of talent that could ultimately benefit us all.”

For more information about LTi Metaltech’s work with women in engineering, visit:

http://lti-metaltech.com/ or contact us on 01235 827 060.

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