There is an under-representation of women in most industries within the Cogent sector, 27% compared to 46% in the UK workforce. This representation is even lower in the oil and gas industry at 15% and 18% in the nuclear industry.

Under-representation of women in the sector is thought to be the result of a combination of factors.  Historically, the industries have been dominated by male workforce (as much of their recruitment was from declining heavy industries).  Employment in the sector is heavily focussed upon science, engineering and technical job roles which have also historically been dominated by males.  Study of subjects that can lead into such occupations has a gender bias with a lower proportion of females studying related subjects at each advancing level of study.  In addition to this, a low proportion of part-time jobs and the expectation that work in the sector is shift-based potentially impacts upon the options for female returners to work. 

Over the next ten years, it is predicted that the number of women working in the sector will increase slightly from 27.9% to 29.4% in 2014, of this 1% will be the part-time share of women.

The proportion of female graduates interested in the sector relevant subjects has increased over the last 10 years. For specific subjects this varies considerably. For instance, in chemistry and geology the proportion of female graduates has increased by 10 % for each subject between 1995-2005. In mechanical engineering, the proportion of women has remained unchanged over the last 10 years and is the lowest at around 8%.

In the sector industries the following statistics are available:

• chemical – 20%  of the workforce are female; 2.3% are in process operations; and 20% in professional roles
• petroleum – 50% of forecourt cashiers and mangers are female; and 7% of forecourt maintenance employees are female
• polymer – 6.9% are female in sign making; and 21.2% are female in rubber processing and plastics
• oil and gas – 18% employed in all companies are female

Source: Cogent Sector Skill Needs Assessment 2006, Working Futures 2006 and Cogent 2003 – industry appendices

For more information on the gender profile of the sector in the future see: