Leading businesses this week welcomed the news that 16,000 female employees had benefitted from the Women and Work initiative.

It is run by Sector Skills Councils to support women in traditionally male-dominated industries.

At a House of Lords event on Monday 1 February, employers and their female employees heard that removing barriers to women working in occupations traditionally occupied by men, and increasing women’s participation in the labour market, could be worth between £15 billion and £23 billion - or 1.3 to 2.0 per cent of GDP.

The figures come from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills which manages The Women & Work Sector Pathways initiative, launched in March 2006

As part of the government funded initiative, ConstructionSkills has helped over 3000 women to access work related training and support initiatives in the construction industry from November 2006 to Jan 2010.

Currently there are around 324,500 women in the construction industry which makes up about 12% of the total workforce, including professional services. The vast majority, about 302,500, of these women work in non-manual roles.

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Speaking at the event, Baroness Wall said: "In the current economy, making the most of an employee’s capabilities is more important than ever before, regardless of their gender.

"The Women and Work initiative is therefore vital in helping companies bring out the talents of women through structured programmes of workshops and one-to-one coaching and has been hugely successful in motivating and driving women to achieve their potential, whilst also delivering tangible business benefits."

Kate Lloyd Equality and Diversity Manager for ConstructionSkills said: "The Women and Work programme has been hugely successfully and has helped an impressive number of women progress in their chosen careers in the construction industry.

"Women have a huge amount to offer traditionally male professions and bring something very different to the table. It is important that we encourage young women to look to construction for an exciting and fulfilling career, whilst also supporting those women already in the industry. It is also key that businesses have the best pool of talent available to them – and dismissing half of the population on the basis of their gender makes little sense in achieving this."

The event was attended by sector skills councils running the initiative which include: ConstructionSkills, Asset Skills, Energy & Utility Skills, Financial Services, GoSkills, Institute of the Motor Industry, Lantra, People 1st, Semta, Skillfast UK, and Skills for Justice.

As part of ConstructionSkills' ongoing work to encourage women to look to construction for a future career, over 500 local students and around 50 teachers and careers advisers will be attending Bedford College today for a Women into Construction event.

The event is being organised by ConstructionSkills and will demonstrate the wide range of career opportunities available to young women in the industry with delegates having the chance to hear directly from women already working in the sector.

(GK/BMcC)