6 OCTOBER 2017

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Companies are 18% more likely to send men on work-related training than women, according to new research by The Knowledge Academy. 

Looking at 32 EU countries, including the UK, the study showed that on average almost 8 in 10 men are offered workplace training, paid for by their employer, compared to only 6 in 10 women. Furthermore, UKCES revealed that even when trained, men were more likely to receive a pay rise thanks to the skills they learned.

Sam Smethers, Fawcett Chief Executive, says:

"This research shows that women are not just missing out on training, but are also less likely to get training for leadership and management skills.

"Being trapped in low paid, part time work and denied opportunities after returning from maternity leave, plus a male dominated, sexist culture, all contribute to holding women back. If we hold women back, we hold business and the economy back too." 

Other key findings include:

• Women are more likely than men to financially contribute towards workplace training.
• In the UK, there is a 5% difference in training sponsorship between men and women
• There is only one EU country where employers offer more training to women
• Those who had job-related training were 54% more likely to have gained a new job or been promoted in the last 5 years

Men were more likely to undergo supervisory training to help them become better leaders and managers. In contrast, women were offered courses on equality and diversity training (39% of women of women questioned had received this sort of training, compared to 24% of men) or health and safety training (61% of women, compared to 52% of men).

This is despite women stating that they were more likely to identify that the skills they needed were more job-focused, specifically in IT and numeracy.

The research concludes that women are often left behind because they are more likely to experience difficulty transitioning back into the workplace after bearing children.

Women are significantly more likely than men to work part-time (44% and 13% respectively), especially after becoming mothers, unfortunately resulting in a lack of training opportunities. According to research, those working full-time were more likely than their part-time colleagues to have access to employer-provided training. 32% of full-time staff had accessed both on-the-job and off-the-job training in the previous 12 months, whereas only 19% of part-time staff had done so.

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