Fairer sex gets fair deal

Man made the cars/To take us over the world/Man made the train/To carry the heavy load ... This is a man's, man's, man's world/But it wouldn't be nothing/Nothing without a woman or a girl.

Things may have changed since James Brown first sang that lyric, but many claim they haven't changed enough in the workplace.

We may read about women in senior roles in the food industry all the time - we have profiled Fiona Dawson, md of Mars Snackfood, in this issue. But sector skills council Improve still says only 23% of senior industry management roles are occupied by women. However, in 2006 the government set out to change that, launching an action programme based on the findings of the Women and Work Commission's recommendations.

Central to the plan was encouraging more women to consider careers in male dominated professions through a £10M scheme spearheaded by five sector skills councils. It aimed to help up to 10,000 women find new careers or progress their current ones. Improve received £500,000 to fund training to give 500 women in food and drink processing a management qualification in two years and 25 manufacturers supplied the talent.

Participants had up to three months to complete the course, which included a two-day intensive session, preparatory work books and a 2,500 word assignment, taught and assessed by Cambridge Professional Academy (CPA).

Now things are beginning to come to fruition, with the first wave of students gaining their Level 3 Introductory Certificate in Management from the Chartered Management Institute. Young's Seafood sourced the biggest group for the programme - 45 women from the company have so far made the grade. Small to medium-sized firms sent their share.

One such trainee is Diane Winship, business support manager at Tate & Lyle. "About 5% of the course covered male/female behaviour, but the rest was standard for both sexes," says Winship. Areas considered included personal and staff development and the influence of external political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal factors (the so-called PESTEL analysis) on a business. Delegates were encouraged to build examples from their own workplace into their studies.

Winship oversees areas such as customer services, administration and invoicing. For her, the programme acted more as a refresher, as she had already held management roles for some years. But she says the teaching on management systems, such as PESTEL and the strategic management assessment review tool (SMART) analysis of business performance, was useful.

Improve is not the only organisation encouraging women to take up senior roles in the wider trade. Everywoman, a training and support services provider for businesswomen, has joined with MAN Truck & Business UK and Skills for Logistics to back the inaugural Transport & Logistics Awards for women. The initiative is designed to encourage women to pursue a career in the sector and Sarah Croft, group carrier manager at Arco is a finalist in the Newcomer of the Year category. Winners will be announced on June 12 at the Marriott hotel, Grosvenor Square London.

It's a step forward, but attracting more women to senior roles in food processing remains a challenge. When asked why, Jennifer Graham, factory manager for Scotland's Highland Country Foods, who has also been through the Women and Work programme and just received her certificate, points to the food industry's poor image.

"I wouldn't say it's a difficult career, but it's not glamorous. Maybe if you're in a cold environment [in factories] it doesn't appeal, whereas men are a bit more 'let's get on with it'," says Graham.

Traditional family values still prevail, claims Winship, with many mothers electing to divert their energies into supporting their children rather than career development. "I think a lot of women leave to have families and by the time they come back, males have progressed."

Paula Widdowson, director of social responsibility for Northern Foods and former commercial director at Improve, says some women still measure success differently to men, putting their social lives and family above career advancement. But ingrained corporate culture is also an issue. Dianah Worman, advisor for diversity at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, says women can often feel like outsiders on male-dominated boards. "The culture regarding boardroom behaviour is a little exclusive. You can only pick it up if you know the rules."

And she says a culture of inflexibility and presenteeism can be a hurdle.

Widdowson concurs. "It's harder for women to get back into the workplace [after giving birth], because the assumption is that you will do everything else [domestically] in addition to your normal role.

"Regardless of whatever government initiative you put behind it, the assumption is girls look after the children."

Women's ability to cover what is expected of them domestically and commercially partly depends on their role and employer flexibility, says Widdowson. "Technical development is heavily populated by women. If you've got a flexible company you can ensure you look after the children and get the work done. Manufacturers are getting smarter in how they use shift patterns, robotics and split roles."

Companies could start being more flexible by allowing women to attend school runs at the start and end of workdays, she says.

Just two weeks ago, the government revealed plans to extend flexible working to an extra 4.5M parents. Karen Gill, co-founder of Everywoman welcomes the move. "Flexibility is one of the driving factors for women occupying senior positions."

So change is happening. "The issue is the time it's taking," says Gill.

"It's about looking at infrastructure and organisations, saying: 'We really need to do something about this.' We are really wasting a huge proportion of the skills pool out there by not developing women." FM

Skills powerhouse increases in strength

Support for the National Skills Academy (NSA) for Food and Drink Manufacturing is increasing, with the number of training providers set to balloon in the next year.

Six centres have just been awarded academic status, taking the total to 12. They are Duchy College in Cornwall, Leicester College, Campden & Chorleywood Food Research Association (CCFRA), Tameside College in Ashton-under-Lyme, The College of North West London and Brooksby College in Melton Mowbray.

The industry's NSA, backed originally by firms such as Warburtons and RHM and co-ordinated by sector skills council Improve, aims to see 60 training providers across the UK accredited within a year.

Duchy College, is focusing on dairy, meat and poultry, and rural and regional food production. Brooksby College will concentrate on this last area, while the College of North West London will look at food and drink manufacture. CCFRA, Leicester College and Tameside will specialise in bakery and confectionery.

The existing providers each have further specialisms. They include Poultec Training in Dereham, Norfolk (meat and poultry) and the Sea Fish Industry Association and the Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education (seafood processing). Reaseheath College in Nantwich (dairy), Peter Rowley in Grimsby (lean manufacturing), JohnsonDiversey in Northampton (food hygiene and safety) and The University of Lincoln Holbeach campus (fresh produce) complete the list.

Justine Fosh, director of the NSA for Food and Drink Manufacturing, says it desperately needs to represent other areas. "We need to cover leadership and management training and commercial skills, such as own label and branded sales and account management." She hopes the training providers will network with outside centres of learning across the UK to exchange training resources.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Cooper, previously technical training manager at Cadbury, and Lawrence Hewitt, who joins from UFI Learndirect, have become business development managers at the NSA.