WHITLEY, England, March 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
Jaguar Land Rover and Getty Images have announced a partnership on International Women's Day to highlight the need for a more realistic visual representation of female engineers.
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More people than ever are searching images of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) careers, yet results are often out-dated and don't reflect today's exciting and varied roles. This partnership aims to change that.
Pictures released today by Jaguar Land Rover, the UK's largest car manufacturer, and Getty Images, a world leader in visual communication, show women in a variety of STEM roles from aerodynamics to cyber and audio engineering. They are intended to encourage more women to apply for these jobs by accurately portraying the modern workplace.
New data released today by Getty Images shows that web traffic for imagery showing women in engineering careers is significantly increasing. The number of people searching "women + STEM" imagery has risen by 526 per cent in the past year alone.
Fiona Pargeter, Jaguar Land Rover Global PR Communications Director, said: "We have always championed women in the car business and are committed to inspiring more girls and women to consider careers in engineering and manufacturing. Our female workforce has grown from nine to 11 per cent over the past four years due to our focused STEM initiatives. But this is still far too low - businesses being proactive about using realistic imagery is one of the many ways that we can attract the bright minds we need into STEM careers."
The Jaguar Land Rover and Getty Images collaboration sees a set of images available today for editorial use, as the partners work towards building a body of imagery, which authentically depicts female engineers at work.
Rebecca Swift, Director Creative Insight at Getty Images, said: "We are a passionate advocate for the realistic representation of women through imagery and are proud to be leading the visual industry in the creation and promotion of powerful, relevant imagery which celebrates diversity and authenticity in every area of life.
"Over the last year we have seen a dramatic spike in interest for imagery showing female engineers at work. Images have the power to make and break gender clichés so the demand for these images is both indicative and important. We have an opportunity to change the visual language around STEM for the better, so we are excited to be partnering with Jaguar Land Rover, who are also committed to expanding the availability of images representing the realities of a modern day engineering career for women."
Michelle Mortiboys, Vehicle Line Director, Jaguar Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations, said: "Here at Jaguar Land Rover we need the diversity of skills that women bring to ensure we thrive and maintain our competitive edge for years to come. It is well known that gender diversification in business is not just healthy culturally but also propels progressiveness and innovation. Our partnership with Getty Images is not just about recruiting women into engineering, it's a small part of the work that needs to be done to upscale female employees in the automotive sector as a whole."
Jaguar Land Rover has called for other leading manufacturers to follow suit by reassessing and updating their visual portrayal of women in STEM careers, in a bid to increase the number of women applying for STEM jobs.
Fiona Pargeter and Michelle Mortiboys are available for comment around this initiative, as well as the wider work that Jaguar Land Rover undertake in order to bolster female careers within the automotive industry. Rebecca Swift is also available to discuss Getty Images' collaboration on this project and the wider issues about the visual depiction of women in industry that the business is currently working to address.
Notes to editors
Jaguar Land Rover invests in specific programmes to inspire and support young female engineers. In December 2016, the business launched its first national Young Women in the Know programme; opening its doors to female students to give them a deep insight into engineering and manufacturing careers. In July 2016 twenty of its female employees were voted most influential women amongst the UK automotive industry by Autocar magazine in the top 100 Most Influential British Women in the Automotive Industry report.
Inspiring Tomorrow's Engineers School STEM Education programme
Jaguar Land Rover's school STEM education programme provides an interactive and practical approach to learning across all stages of the national curriculum as well as bespoke careers programmes. In 2016, 300,000 young people across the UK participated in the programme including 21,000 young people who visited Jaguar Land Rover's six UK Education Business Partnership Centres.
Jaguar Land Rover Apprenticeships
Jaguar Land Rover's award-winning apprenticeship schemes recruit around 200 young people each year. The Advanced Scheme runs for four years and is designed for those who are taking their GCSEs this academic year or have already completed them.
The Degree Schemes run for six years and are for those in their final year of A-levels or who have completed the appropriate A-levels or vocational qualifications.
Further details of the two schemes can be found on http://www.jaguarlandrovercareers.com
Jaguar Land Rover Undergraduates
For students in the middle of their degree and looking to supplement their studies with real-life projects that have real-life, global impact, there is no better route to take than a Jaguar Land Rover Undergraduate programme. Successful applicants can join for anything between 3 and 15 months and are designed to help students develop invaluable skills and gain world-class experiences. Working in this way can also lead to longer term career opportunities within Jaguar Land Rover itself.
Further details on this programme can be found on http://www.jaguarlandrovercareers.com/jlr-roles/future-talent/undergraduates/
About Getty Images:
Getty Images is the most trusted and esteemed source of visual content in the world, with over 200 million assets available through its industry-leading sites http://www.gettyimages.com and http://www.istock.com. The Getty Images website serves creative, business and media customers in almost 200 countries and is the first place people turn to discover, purchase and share powerful content from the world's best photographers and videographers. Getty Images works with over 200,000 contributors and hundreds of image partners to provide comprehensive coverage of more than 130,000 news, sport and entertainment events, impactful creative imagery to communicate any commercial concept and the world's deepest digital archive of historic photography.
Visit Getty Images at http://www.gettyimages.com to learn more about how the company is advancing the unique role of still and moving imagery in communication and business, and enabling creative ideas to come to life. For company news and announcements, visit our Press Room, and for the stories and inspiration behind our content, visit Stories & Trends. Find Getty Images on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Tumblr, or download the Getty Images app where you can explore, save and share the world's best imagery.
Getty Images and its partners
Getty Images leads the industry in the drive to more realistically represent different communities in imagery. It works with a number of partners to achieve this:
For further information log onto http://www.media.landrover.com
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