According to the US Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey 2013 just 28.7% of the USA’s manufacturing workforce is female and participation is highest in production areas, which may be deemed as being stereotypical to gender: 66% in retail bakeries, 60.6% in textile product mills and 58.1% in cut and sew apparel manufacturing. This week saw an attempt at breaking this stereotype with Making It Real: Girls & Manufacturing Summit at Manufacturing 4 The Future where 130 girls from local schools discovered the potentials of what a career in manufacturing can herald for them.
Hopefully a point will come in the future where gender considerations in employment are barely thought of, as a product of intuitive, rather than promoted, attitudes of equality of opportunity. Until then, although this issue has come along way in progressive nations such as the United States, events such as the Girls & Manufacturing Summit continue to be very important. They remind us that all genders have skills, talents and potentials that can be applied in any field, and that they can produce everything from the breakthrough idea in a specific field that changes the world, to a lifetime of productive hard work in a given vocation.
There is no such thing, scientifically, as the male mind and the female mind as a definitively defined entity. Most individuals have a combination of the stereotypical traits of both to varying degrees. This has nothing at all to do with sexuality. Also the most stereotypically ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’ seeming individuals can have cognitive abilities that are utterly different. It is our social conditioning that nurtures most of the thinking patterns, and ignorance, that limit our potential. For a fascinating test, here is a link to the BBC’s Brain Sex ID test.
Part of a three-day Mfg4 student program, the Summit tapped into today’s leading women in manufacturing to inspire the next generation of leadership and talent. Female leaders and practitioners from the fielddiscussed opportunities in manufacturing and the skills needed to be successful.Students were introduced to manufacturing through team-based activities that replicate the manufacturing process from concept to design to fabrication to quality control. They witnessed 3D printing in action, and had a chance to tour the Mfg4 Conference exhibit hall and learn first-hand from manufacturers.
An educator workshop on preparing the 21st century STEM (not STEAM?) workforce was held. The event’s keynote presentation was delivered by Jennifer McNelly, President of The Manufacturing Institute in Washington, DC.Launched in December 2010 by the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology, Inc. (CCAT), “Connecticut. Dream It. Do It.” is part of a US-wide career awareness and recruitment program focused on creating a positive image of twenty-first century manufacturing.
Susan Palisano, CCAT’s director of Education & Workforce Development said:“Manufacturing is facing a skills gap, and part of that is the under-representation of women in the industry. Sparking interest in future careers among girls is a priority to assure that the region’s manufacturers can attract, retain and advance women in skilled positions.”
