Girls urged to choose 'male' careers

Girls complain of gender stereotyping in careers advice

Companies are to offer teenage girls more opportunities to go into traditionally "male" industries such as engineering to try to stop them being pushed towards hairdressing and childcare.

And £500,000 is to be given to voluntary organisations to try to involve boys and young men more in family life.

These are two key issues identified in the biggest review the government has undertaken of young people's attitudes.

A Cabinet Office report, Listen Up, covers a range of issues raised by youngsters such as gender stereotyping, drugs, racism, teenage pregnancy and bullying.

The report was published jointly by the Women's Minister, Tessa Jowell, and the Home Office Minister Paul Boateng.

'Bias'

Last year 53% of schoolgirls got at least five top-grade GCSEs, compared with 43% of boys, the report notes.

But boys are more likely to study physics, chemistry, computer studies, economics and design and technology, while girls tend to opt for home economics, social sciences and art subjects, according to the Office for Standards in Education.

The Cabinet Office report says girls felt gender stereotyping in careers advice in schools needed addressing.

It says there remains a very strong bias towards males entering skilled manual jobs and females entering jobs such as health care, child care and hairdressing.

"We want to do everything we can to ensure all young people fulfil their potential," Tessa Jowell said.

'Aim high' message

"The more young women are able to experience a range of jobs in sectors not traditionally seen as being easily open to them, the better.

"Girls are doing well academically and should be aiming high once they get out into the workplace.

"They deserve good pay for rewarding jobs and we need to start early on ensuring they get on the right path."

To try to broaden young women's career choices the government has signed up 12 employers in male-dominated industries: Arup, Compaq Computers Ltd, Vodaphone Airtouch plc, BT, Cisco Systems, BG Foundation, Savills plc, Carillion, ME PC, Jones Laing Lasalle, Canary Wharf plc, and the Ministry of Defence.

The TUC and the Royal Institute of British Architects are also providing "taster days" for young women.

Paul Boateng said: "For young men there is a need to look at issues of masculinity and the tendency for them to be more excluded from family life."

Masculinity

Underpinning ministers' views on this is research showing that boys participate less in family life than girls, even though they tend to remain in the family home longer.

"Though fathers are important for both sexes, having a male role model around seems especially important for young men," the report says.

"Teenage boys told us they often feel excluded from discussions about parenthood and family life.

"Young fathers also feel shut out, as professionals fail to recognise that they want to play a role in their children's upbringing."

So they want more education on what it is like to become a parent, with more opportunities to discuss emotional development with male teachers and youth workers, and a focus in personal, social and health education classes on ideas of what it means to be masculine.

The report also notes that "a surprising number" of young people talked about bullying, and felt schools did far too little to combat it. Boys in particular spoke of feeling insecure.