Fiona McDonald, Managing Director of Tradeswomen Australia today called for all political parties, government agencies, and industry bodies to forge new positive approaches towards the engagement of women in trades to pro-actively facilitate and support women’s pathway into the male-dominated trades sector.

”Government should be setting an engagement target of 20,000 year 9 to 12 students, 100 employer partners, 200 trade trained career teachers to support women in the industry by committing to new jobs to create a 15% increase in trade careers for women.  

“The National Skills Needs List (2019) lists 65 trades that are experiencing national skills shortages. Of those, 62 can be classed as male-dominated trades; only 3 could be classed as female-dominated.”