Hannah Blakley, William Malcher, Kirsty Ashley and Dean Sharpe (clockwise)

Meet four talented young people competing in the national finals of the WorldSkillsUK at Birmingham’s

NEC this week. But which one is the florist, the butcher, the car worker and the care worker?

**********************************************************************

Press Release

Breaking down barriers

Young men and women are working together to help smash outdated stereotypes as to which careers

suit which gender.

Showcasing careers for all is a key focus for WorldSkillsUK at The Skills Show at Birmingham’s NEC

(Nov17-20) and there is plenty of evidence that is the case.

It follows a survey among 1,500 of Britain’s parents carried out by WorldSkills UK which revealed they

are prepared to break down the gender bias barriers when helping choose a career for their kids - but

are crying out for more information on skills.

Four competitors in the national skills finals who representing their gender against competitors of the

opposite sex in their sectors took time out to show their peers how there should be no barriers in the

quest for a fulfilling career.

Dean Sharpe, 32, from Stafford spent a number of years going from job to job doing different work

before finally finding a career to match his creativity and ambition – floristry.

He works at Flirtations in Lichfield and after success in regional heats finds himself competing for a gold

medal against some of the best female florists in Britain.

“I always knew I was creative but it was finding that outlet of drawing or painting. I found it in flowers,”

said Dean. “It is making something from scratch. I love the competing because you can let your

imagination and creativity run wild.

“It is only in the last three years that I have realised this is what I wanted to do and I love it. If you look

at some of the top florists in the world there are men as well as women. It really is a career for

everybody.”

Butcher Hannah Blakley, 17, from Ripon, North Yorkshire was inspired into the trade having been

brought up on a farm and she has ambitions of one day owning and running her own farm shop.

“It feels great to be at The Skills Show because it is quite a big thing for my career,” she said. “It is a real

boost to my confidence. We have a sheep farm of 800 and I worked as a Saturday girl at Marley’s

butchers where I got offered an apprenticeship.

“It is quite a male dominated profession and whenever I say I am a butcher people are surprised. There

have been so many opportunities for me. I have gone to Australia and travelled all over the world for

competitions. It is a great career for girls as well as boys.”

William Malcher, 18, from Torquay, South Devon works in health and social care for Torbay and South

Devon Foundation Trust.

“I have been heavily influenced by my mum who is a nurse as well,” said William. “She has always

empowered me to recognise in every job role that there is no difference between men and women. You

are doing the same job, with the same outcome which in my case is to improve patient care.

“The best thing about being a nurse is that I can go home at the end of the day knowing I have helped

someone be happier, healthier and more comfortable.

“It is amazing to be at The Skills Show and it is not just about going for the Gold medal – it is meeting all

the different people and the chance to show nursing is a career for both men and women.”

Kirsty Ashley, 22, from Lichfield is competing in Automotive Refinishing. “It feels great to be taking part

in a national skills competition, to represent my company and girls,” she said.

“I think I have a really good chance of gold, I am confident and know what I am doing. I love cars, when I

turned 17 I got a car and that was it! I would say to girls just go for it, I wouldn’t do anything else.”

Kirsty is delighted to have the support of her company, Concept Refinishers in Tamworth.

“We are like a big family,” she said. “There is another girl at my place and all my colleagues are really

rooting for me at The Skills Show and are turning up to see me, which is really nice.”

Dr Neil Bentley, CEO of WorldSkills UK, which is tasked with helping to skill the UK, is delighted to see

more young people busting the myths but said more must be done to address the gender diversity

imbalance overshadowing skills provision.

“Gender diversity is so important because so many young people are being held back from doing what

they want to do,” he said. “They know their own career dreams and want to pursue them. There are

social norms and traditional roles men and women are being told they need to play but we want to

encourage them to do exactly what they want, whether it be young women wanting to be engineers or

young men wanting to be beauticians they should be able to follow their dreams.

“It is about bringing new talent into sectors, helping us increase productivity and helping British business

flourish.”