“Occupational segregation” is certainly the terminology that we would use. It does not tell the whole story, but it is a critical part of it. We need to do more, and we need to do rather better to ensure more female participation in what is viewed as traditionally the preserve of men in the labour market.
On the flip side of that, we need to do rather better to ensure greater participation of men in what is traditionally viewed as the preserve of women in the labour market, the social care sector being the prime example. That is undoubtedly a critical element of the equation.
A range of work is under way. My colleague Shirley-Anne Somerville has published the draft STEM strategy, a significant element of which is to do rather better at encouraging women—or girls in the school environment—to take up STEM subjects in greater numbers. In our modern apprenticeship frameworks, Skills Development Scotland has published the equalities action plan, and it is working to ensure that, where there is a 75:25 gender imbalance in any specific framework, work should be done to level that out. That work is under way.
You refer to modern apprenticeships being predominantly male, and I readily concede that that is the case, but there has been a journey. In 2008, around a quarter of all modern apprentices were female. In the last year for which we have full information available, the figure was about 41 per cent, so there has been progress. However, I readily concede that, underlying that, more needs to be done within specific frameworks.
We certainly need to do more to encourage greater participation. That cannot give the entirety of the picture, however. For instance, even where women undertake STEM studies at university level, once they graduate, only around 27 per cent of women with a relevant qualification go on to work in the STEM sector.
We also need to consider the institutional, societal and cultural barriers, which you were touching on—I was listening into your previous evidence session—referring to the burden of the caring responsibility falling predominantly on women, with the consequential career breaks and so on, which has a wider impact on participation, even where women achieve the relevant qualification. I do not have the information before me, but that is probably true in the legal profession. More women might be coming in, but at what level do they end up in their careers?