Women In Manufacturing: How to Increase Our Numbers
It’s no secret that women are greatly underrepresented in the world of manufacturing. In 1918, during World War I, women comprised 19% of the total manufacturing workforce. Today, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that while women represented nearly half of the total U.S. labor force (47%), they comprised less than a third (27%) of the manufacturing jobs in 2014. That is a meager 8% increase in the manufacturing industry in nearly 100 years.

Why has the progress been so slow and how can we help speed things up moving forward? Pamela Kan, president of Bishop-Wisecarver Group, recently wrote a 3- part blog series looking at the root causes of this dilemma and proposing ways to develop needed solutions.

In reviewing vast amounts of research and combining it with her personal experiences and observations, Pamela saw patterns she felt provided some of the answers to increasing the number of women in manufacturing. Following a product life cycle concept, the blog series includes:

  1. Introduction stage—Focus on the Roots with STEM
  2. Growth stage—Women Yet to Hit Full Growth in Manufacturing
  3. Maturity stage—It’s Time to Re-energize Manufacturing

The blogs were written for the Thors elearning site that provides online education and training for the manufacturing industry. Take a few minutes to review the blogs and determine if you see the same patterns. More importantly, resolve to personally take actions that can help increase the number of women in manufacturing.

In the next 100 years, let’s see the statistics increase significantly beyond the 8% from this century.