The Queensland Government has committed $3.5 million to get more women into priority sectors of typically male-dominated blue-collar industries such as manufacturing.
The initiative will enable employers to address workforce skills issues and help women to both access and remain in these important sectors.
“We very warmly welcome this announcement by the Queensland Government to provide funding under the industrial skills solutions initiative because we’re all about increasing female participation in male dominated industries,” said president of the National Association of Women in Construction Queensland Chapter Emma McCaughey.
“We can’t not consider 50 per cent of the population when we’ve got a resource shortage so how can we increase that attraction, that retention, the recruitment, and the promotion of women across all the construction sectors.
Industries could include horticulture, automotive, building and construction, manufacturing, butchery, boiler making, electrical, carpentry, plumbing, engineering, information technology, and commercial cookery.
It’s expected that specific industry-led projects to get more women into non-traditional industries will be led by a coalition of industry and relevant stakeholder groups including the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC).