Fewer Female Graduates Hired

SEVERAL TOP employers are hiring fewer female graduates than male graduates – even though there are more women than men at university.

200 of the country's top employers consistently hired more male graduates than female, the report carried out by the Association of Graduate Recruiters discovered.

Despite accounting for 57 percent of all university graduates, women made up only 39 percent of graduate recruits in 2007, a drop of three percent from last year.

The chief executive of the AGR, Carl Gilleard, suggested that companies' selection processes may be responsible, with some male executives favouring other men with backgrounds similar to their own.

He added that many of the top employers, including Barclays, BT and Microsoft, were not reaching the whole graduate population.

Patricia Peter, from the Institute of Directors, said that women might feel disadvantaged in the workplace: "Women tend to feel they're not going to succeed at the same level as men."

She also put forward the idea that some companies' focus on equality has shifted "Maybe female diversity has dropped off the agenda and is seen as a bit old hat. The drive for ethnic minorities has perhaps replaced it," she said.

The survey did not include other careers like teaching and nursing, which were favoured by some women.