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Water company backs 'Get Girls Plumbing' campaign

24th March 2014

SEMBCORP Bournemouth Water (SBW) is supporting WaterSafe’s newly-launched ‘Get Girls Plumbing’ campaign designed to encourage more women to take up tools.

A poll of 2,000 consumers conducted by WaterSafe, the UK’s leading plumbing assurance scheme, shows that while the majority (79 per cent) regard skill as being most important, nearly a third would prefer a female plumber to carry out work in their home. Nearly two-thirds feel it’s time traditional stereotypes were done away with.
 
Among the poll's findings:
 
·         38 per cent of women in the UK would learn a trade, if they had their time over again.
·         Less than one per cent of plumbers in the UK are women.
·         Almost a third of women (31 per cent) would prefer a female plumber to carry out work in their home.
 
Despite the warm welcome for female plumbers among homeowners, women remain severely under-represented in the plumbing industry – largely due to gender bias rooted in people's upbringing. When asked to recall their career advice, a quarter of women felt they had been encouraged into a typical female role such as teaching, healthcare and office-based positions.
 
In response to these findings, WaterSafe is pledging its on-going support to championing women in plumbing with its ‘Get Girls Plumbing’ campaign. 
 A practising career advisor, Donna Mason, said: "I think WaterSafe's 'Get Girls Plumbing' Campaign is a fantastic way of putting a trade career for women on the agenda ...  and with a skills shortage in this country, we need to be encouraging young girls into plumbing apprenticeships. Plumbing can be a very rewarding career, both financially and personally and can fit around family life.  So, let's 'Get Girls Plumbing’!”

Roger Harrington, Managing Director, Sembcorp Bournemouth Water, said: "As a promoter of WaterSafe and an equal opportunities employer, we are delighted to lend our support to this important campaign. The poll results are shocking but speak for themselves. What’s really important is the quality of the plumbing work and that customers get what they want and feel comfortable with; not the gender of the plumber.”

For further information please contact:

Bournemouth Water 

www.bournemouthwater.co.uk/contact-us/