Club supports DWP campaign

Tottenham Hotspur is the first football club to lend its support to the Department for Work and Pensions #notjustforboys campaign, which has launched today.

Recent research reveals there are likely to be around 12 million job opportunities open up in the UK over the next decade, and despite women now choosing to work in record numbers, they are still underrepresented in many of the UK’s jobs growth areas.

The #notjustforboys campaign aims to shine a light on this issue and get more women into work across industries such as banking, broadcasting, science and engineering.

With a proven track record of creating sporting opportunities for women through the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation, and now providing access to jobs in science, technology and engineering as a business partner of Tottenham UTC, the Club is backing the campaign alongside companies such as Diageo, Unilever and BT.

Donna-Maria Cullen, Executive Director, said: “Tottenham Hotspur Football Club carries equality as an ethos throughout everything we do, whether as an employer, on a matchday at White Hart Lane, or within our local community.

“Most recently, the Club has become a business partner of the University Technical College of Tottenham, which specialises in Science and Technology for Sport, Health and Engineering and provides a pathway through to employment for female students looking for a career in an industry within which there are perceived barriers to women.

“Our support of #notjustforboys is part of our continued work in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions to improve employment opportunities for people within our local community – a partnership that has created over 600 job opportunities to date around the Club’s sport-led regeneration of Tottenham.”

Employment Minister Esther McVey said: “Up and down the country, women of the UK have been staging a quiet revolution - we’re in work in record numbers, with huge inroads into the top professions.

“The modern face of women in work in the UK is largely unrecognisable from the choices available to our grandmothers, and as part of our long-term economic plan I want to support even more women make the most of the record vacancies UK businesses are creating.

“Through the #notjustforboys campaign we want to energise young girls and support more women to make the choices that are right for them, and have the security of a regular wage in an industry that’s driving Britain’s growth.”

The UK has seen the fastest growth in the number of women in work in the last year out of all G7 economies - there are a record 14.4 million women in work.

There have been nearly 3,500 more women in work every week on average since 2010, boosting the employment rate for women to a record 68.2 per cent.

Around 80 per cent of the growth in female employment in the last four years has been in managerial, professional and technical professions. Women have made impressive gains across a range of sectors, however women are still underrepresented in growth areas such as:

• Engineering professionals (up 10% since 2011) – 7% working in this area are women;

• Broadcast media (including photographers, audio-visual and broadcasting equipment operators) (up by 25% since 2011) – 20% working in this area are women;

• Graphic designers (up 40% since 2011) – 30% working in this area are women;

• Science, engineering and production technicians (up 45% since 2011) – 25% working in this area are women.