More Women in ‘Male’ Apprenticeships Could Narrow Gender Pay Gap

The gender pay gap is a hot topic in debates on equality and employment, and many a mind is mulling over how best to combat this issue. Demos research shows that there is a pay gap of £8,400 between industries with predominantly male apprentices, for example engineering, science and construction, compared to those with a high proportion of women apprentices like hairdressing, childcare and health and social care.

According to the research, only 3% of apprentices in engineering are women and only 2% in construction are women, compared to around 83% in health and social care and 91% in child care.

The think tank suggests that encouraging more women to enter these ‘male’ sectors will help to tackle the gender pay gap overall.