Getting women tooled up to take on the construction site stereotypes
WOMEN will be given help to challenge stereotypes in the male-dominated manual trades industry by setting up their own building and plumbing businesses.
Women and Manual Trades aims to make women “on the tools” the norm and not the exception through the Building Women’s Futures project.
An upcoming training project subsi- dized by the RBS Women in Enterprise Fund will equip women with t he knowledge and support they need to set up sustainable businesses.
Campaigns such as #NotJustForBoys and #SeeMeJoinMe have highlighted the fact that less than 20 per cent of those working in both blue collar and white collar jobs in the construction industry are women.
Wendy Gill, 32, a tiler from east London who has signed up for the Building Women’s Futures training course, said: “I’m really looking forward to the course to help enhance my skills and put them to use. It’s important that women realise they have other options. We have the same opportunities as men.”
The scarcity of women working in the mainstream manual trades industry has resulted in more women running their own businesses rather than working for large contractors. Ms Gill highlighted the significance of more women within the male-dominated sec tor starting their own businesses and helping to eradicate gender inequality and pave the way for the next generation of women to have the same opportunities as their male counterparts.
She said: “I worked for a major construction company but unfortunately was not treated the same as my male colleagues being the only female. It’s important that trades women use opportunities like these to develop their craft.”
Fewer than two per cent of construction workers using tools are women, a percentage barely increased since 1975 when WAMT was established.
Andrea Kelmanson, CEO of Women and Manual Trades, said: “We believe that introducing the mentoring and networking aspect to this work will make a big differenc e in helping women to feel supported.”
The Building Women’s Future s project will offer participants training courses along with mentoring.