Women are to be encouraged to consider careers in traditionally ‘male dominated’ professions thanks to a new £10m initiative.

Women of all ages will have the chance to test out new recruitment and career opportunities that have previously been considered the preserve of men, these include logistics, construction and Food and drink manufacturing and processing.

The initiative is being lead by five Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) as part of the Government’s Action Plan implementing the Women and Work Commission recommendations.

The two-year scheme aims to help up to 10,000 women find new careers or progress their careers in sectors where they are currently under-represented. 

The SSCs will run a variety of projects to provide women with the skills and confidence they will need to succeed in these male dominated industries, including training for a new career; personal development programmes to help women progress to supervisory and managerial level, and also into self employment; mentoring schemes for female employees; and female-only bursaries for technical qualifications.

The Women & Work Commission estimates that increasing women’s participation in the labour market and in higher grade roles could be worth between £15bn and £23bn a year to the UK economy.