The Women in Manufacturing Mentoring Program aims to deliver leadership opportunities to women in manufacturing and support those starting out in the industry. The program also highlighted the barriers facing young women considering a manufacturing career.
The partnership between the program with the Brisbane Broncos encourages more women to explore careers in advanced manufacturing and represents an untapped talent pool in the manufacturing. This is projected to transform the industry.
Launched in January 2024, the program paired 11 mentees from Queensland schools, including Glenala State High School and St James, with mentors from a variety of industries such as Elexon Electronics, Drake Trailers, and Mayneline Joinery Pty Ltd. The pairs met monthly, with mentors sharing their knowledge and experience to guide the mentees.
The Women in Manufacturing mentoring program held its end of program celebration at the Broncos’ Red Hill training grounds, featuring a BBQ with manufacturing minister Glenn Butcher and Broncos players to celebrate the program nearing its completion.
Upon the program’s completion, the aforementioned celebration provided participants with the opportunity to network by meeting Broncos ambassadors, and tour Graham Lusty Trailers (GLT) in Carole Park.
Led by GLT CEO Shay Chalmers, the tour offered insights into the diverse roles available in manufacturing and allowed mentees to learn from Chalmers’ 20-year journey in the industry.
“Women represent a vast, untapped talent pool and initiatives such as the Mentoring Program are important to guide and encourage more young women to pursue a career in manufacturing,” said Chalmers.
“I firmly believe that one of the ways to address skills shortages in the manufacturing industry is to help inspire more women to kickstart a career in manufacturing,” said Chalmers.
“Women are still woefully underrepresented in key management positions, and they currently make up less than 20 per cent of all CEO roles in Australia and that figure is lower still in the manufacturing space,” said Chalmers.
Broncos CEO, Dave Donaghy highlighted the alignment of the program’s values with Broncos as an organisation.
“We want to show young women in school that there are careers out there that perhaps they haven’t thought of and that they can always go the road less travelled when it comes to life after school,” said Donaghy.
“It’s challenging to enter an industry and take up a trade or technical engineering role not typically held by women, but the more women who are supported to do so and find advocates among their peers and leadership, the more we will stop seeing that as a barrier for future generations,” added Chalmers.
Broncos CEO echoes this sentiment and their support by describing the similarity in values aligned between the club and the Queensland Government’s Women in Manufacturing program, highlighting the achievements of Broncos of enhancing its brand by building on work of their existing successful programs away from the field.
“It wasn’t so long ago that even semi-professional rugby league wasn’t an option for women and despite there still being plenty more to do, we’ve had some incredible success tackling the barriers for women who play the game since our NRLW program began in 2018,” said Donaghy.
He explained that the organisation is proud to have exceptional female leaders including Ali Brigginshaw involved with the Brisbane Broncos, who are passionate about helping to attract and retain more women into traditionally male-dominated roles.
This is projected to have a large impact on the community particular for women in manufacturing and STEM.
“The manufacturing industry and its workplace culture is changing, and growing the diversity of our workforces through initiatives like the Queensland Government’s Women in Manufacturing program is a big part of that, alongside opening the door wider for women to enter leadership roles in our industry,” said Chalmers.
This sentiment is echoed by the Queensland Government, in particular the Minister for Regional Development, Manufacturing and Water, Glenn Butcher.
“The Women in Manufacturing program is part of bigger strategy being delivered across the state to help women get good manufacturing jobs in Queensland.”
Donaghy highlighted the need for gender diversity across manufacturing fields in the near future.
“Whether at a 2024 season game, meeting with students from local schools or otherwise, together with the Queensland Government we want to continue showing more women that they can lead the way in careers they may not have previously considered, like manufacturing,” said Donaghy.