Free training to get Muslim women jobs

Ruth Kelly wants to promote Muslim women in the workplace
13 April 2012

Muslim mothers are to be offered free job training as part of a new government drive to combat Islamic extremism and get more women into work.

See also:

• New measures to help working mothers

Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly today unveiled the £10 million pilot scheme as part of a wider campaign to help women break into male-dominated jobs.

All schools will be told to overhaul their careers advice to girls to encourage them into the computer, engineering and building industries.

Firms are to be helped to create job shares for senior managers and 80 large companies including Accenture, BAE Systems and BP have signed up as "exemplar employers".

They will be committed to helping women take time off to have children and work f lexibly. A £500,000 fund is being created for organisations specialising in flexible working.

The two-year London scheme will offer A-level standard training to women with few skills, with Muslims a key target of the project.

The scheme is also aimed at ending the isolation felt by some Asian women who speak little English and stay at home to raise their children.

Ms Kelly is also in charge of "community cohesion" and government efforts to marginalise extremists within Muslim areas.

Setting out the Government's response to a scathing report on the state of women in the workplace, she said she wanted to transform the culture in Britain "from the playground to the boardroom".

On a visit to the East End, Ms Kelly said that increasing women's participation in work and enabling them to get better jobs could be worth up to £23 billion a year to the UK economy.

Among the initiatives are new rules for careers officers to ensure no "gender stereotyping" from next April.

From the same date, public-sector employers will have to guarantee equal pay and opportunities for men and women.

Ms Kelly said: "The best of business already understands the benefits that flexible working delivers, but it's time the rest (did).

"This is not about political correctness, this is about improving profit margins.

"Just because a woman decides to trade down her hours doesn't mean she should (have to) trade down her status."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in