Jeff Cuthbert, the Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty and Caerphilly AM, has been hearing from women enrolled in a project aimed at boosting their careers.
Mr Cuthbert met the women recently at Coleg y Cymoedd’s Nantgarw campus, where they are undertaking the Agile Nation Ascent programme.
The programme is specially designed to help women overcome barriers to leadership roles.
Recent research by Chwarae Teg, the women’s economic development body which runs the £12.5m EU-funded Agile Nation programme, showed that men in Wales are almost 60% more likely than women to hold managerial positions.
The report entitled ‘A Woman’s Place’ found that eleven per cent of male workers in Wales held management and leadership roles compared to only 7% of female workers.
To date 2,694 individual women in Wales’ EU Convergence areas have been helped towards the achievement of their managerial ambitions by the Ascent programme.
Moreover, 360 businesses have received assistance under Agile Nation’s Evolve programme, which helps firms to benefit by introducing more flexible working, better work-life balance and targeted skills development.
Following his meeting with women on the course Mr Cuthbert said: “We cannot overestimate the importance to the Welsh economy of women achieving their full potential in the workforce.
“As more women in Valley areas progress up the career ladder it will also have a positive impact on the prosperity of the communities in which they live. That in turn helps tackle problems of poverty in many localities. While there is still much work to be done, the stories I heard here encouraged me greatly.”
Agile Nation Project Manager, Hayley Dunne, said: “Feedback from women and businesses to date indicates that Agile Nation is having a real impact on people’s lives. Although the project is now nearing an end, there is still time for women who are keen to climb the career ladder to enrol on the Ascent programme, and for businesses to get involved in Evolve.”