JILL OF ALL TRADES
THE proportion of females choosing trades and technical careers has slowly risen this decade in a positive sign they are following their own destiny.
Employment department data reveals 15 per cent of people employed as technicians and trades workers – in occupations ranging from engineering draftspeople and chefs to mechanics and bricklayers – were female in 2018, compared to 14 per cent in 2017 and 13 per cent in 2011.
They are most likely to be employed as food trades workers, of which 32 per cent are women, and least likely to be employed as automotive/ engineering trades workers (1 per cent women).
SkillsOne chief executive Brian Wexham attributes the rise to an increasing awareness of opportunities in trades, while skill shortages mean many industries are broadening their recruitment approach to speak to a larger pool of workers, such as women.
“Career advisers now are much more aware of vocational education than they were previously,” he says.
“I think (the increase) will continue, I think for a couple of reasons – these jobs are incredibly well-paid, and we’re getting more girls continuing to study maths.
“Women are going into more traditional trades – bricklaying, plumbing, and plastering, electrical.
“We’ve got girl mechanics, the term ‘grease monkey’ doesn’t really apply anymore, it’s more technical.
“Girls are getting more involved.”
SkillsOne is the founding force behind National Skills Week, being held from August 26 to September 1, which aims to promote “real skills for real careers” and the importance of vocational education.
This year’s theme – Succeed Your Way – will encourage males as well as females to consider careers that suit their interests and abilities, rather than defaulting to universitytrained careers, and will highlight vocational pathways in not only traditional trade sectors but others such as healthcare, hospitality and IT.
Wexham hopes more young people will start pursuing vocational careers earlier through school-based apprenticeships and schoolbased traineeships.
School students can complete a vocational education qualification such as a certificate II as a school subject, which not only gives them a headstart to becoming qualified but also counts towards achieving their high school Certificate of Education.
Fitter and turner Kara Reynolds, 30, wishes she had more opportunities to try trades at school.
“If there was more (handson) experience and … opportunities, there would be a lot more people coming into the trade,” she says.
Reynolds decided to pursue a trade a few years ago after doing some work as a trades assistant to earn extra cash.
“When I was in high school, we’d do work experience wherever – I did it in a shopping centre, in a retail shop,” she says.
She says the men in her life – her partner, and her dad – were supportive of her career choice.
“When you’ve got that support behind you, it’s good,” she says.
“I didn’t do it for everyone else. I did it for me.”
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT NATIONAL SKILLS WEEK’S GOALS AND FIND AN EVENT TO ATTEND NEAR YOU, VISIT NATIONALSKILLSWEEK.COM.AU