Calls For Government Action To Get More Girls Studying A-Level Science.

The government is being urged to launch a nationwide careers service which would work alongside schools to encourage more girls to study science A-levels with the overall aim of increasing the number of women working in science.

Women are under-represented in a number of career sectors including science, technology, engineering and maths and the business select committee is pressing ministers to launch a nationwide careers service to address this under-representation.

The committee's chair, Adrian Bailey MP said: "We need to change the culture in schools which in so many cases presume there is a set of career paths for women.  A young person's influences are their peer group, teachers and parents. It's breaking into these groups to make them aware of the breadth of opportunities available that will make the difference."

The report highlighted inadequacies in the careers advice offered to young women and said the government should set targets for encouraging women into apprenticeships into sectors such as science, technology, engineering and maths where they are perennially under-represented.

The committee shared some worrying facts including the fact that only 20% of A-level physics students are girls, only 5% of fellows at the Royal Society of Chemistry are women and that women represent just 12% of workers in the field of astronomy.

The government has two months to respond to the report findings.

The full report on women in the workplace can be downloaded at the following link:

http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/business-innovation-and-skills/news/on-publ-women-in-the-workplace/