Women in Manufacturing Project: Progress and Development

Under the Management Research Centre, University of Wolverhampton Business School, we (Samia Mahmood, Eun Sun Godwin, and Priscilla Eke), are running a project on ‘Women in Manufacturing’. The project aims to explore women's experiences in the manufacturing industry in the West Midlands. We believe women working in this industry and region have a very complex positionality inter-connected with their gender, locality (deindustrialized region) and industrial culture/identity (masculine image and culture). Thus, we would like to explore their aspiration and challenges in their career and working experience in the manufacturing industry.

Considering the region’s heavy reliance on the manufacturing industry, the ultimate aim of our project is to gain close insights on what both conceptual and structural barriers to women at different stages of their career path in the industry (e.g., entry and progression). The project explores women’s experiences of challenges coming from stereotypes against them in working in the manufacturing industry.

Since the start of the project, the following development has been made:

  • On 17 June 2022, we arranged a practitioner engagement event entitled ‘Women in manufacturing: Challenging the stereotype’ at the University of Wolverhampton, Springfield campus. The panellists and participants shared their own and/or other women’s experiences of challenges arising from stereotypes used against them as workers in the manufacturing industry.

 

  • After the research-scoping event, we started conducting interviews with women who either have worked or have been working in the manufacturing industry.

 

  • On 18 October 2022, the research team attended MakeUK Midlands & East Regional Dinner at the invitation of Charlotte Horobin, Region Director – Midlands & East of England.
  • On 20 October 2022, the research team visited the National Foundry Training Centre at the Elite Centre of Manufacturing Skills (ECMS) , which is based in Tipton, to observe the manufacturing facilities in the region closely. ECMS is an employer-led training facility designed to support the UK industry in upskilling and multi-skilling the workforce, funded by The Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership and collaboration between the University of Wolverhampton, Dudley College, Cast Metals Federation, Confederation of British Metalforming and Institute of Cast Metals Engineers.

 

 

  • We have conducted around 15 interviews with the women associated with the manufacturing industry from the Midlands region and the interviews are still ongoing.
  • We also started data collection from men in the manufacturing sector to find their views on equality, diversity and inclusion
  • With the interview data collected so far, we are working on one journal paper and one conference paper

Next Steps:

It is ongoing research. If you have any questions about the project, would like to participate in the project and/or learn more about the research, please get in touch with the researchers. We are also currently recruiting male interviewees working in the manufacturing industry, if anybody is interested in participating in the research interview, please contact us at samiamahmood@wlv.ac.uk (Samia Mahmood),  e.godwin@wlv.ac.uk (Eun Sun Godwin) and p.n.eke@wlv.ac.uk (Priscilla Eke).