A program which aims to prepare women for employment in the trades industry has been launched in Wyndham.
Building Futures: Pathways to Trades in Wyndham will focus on women in vulnerable and at-risk demographics, including newly arrived women, women from lower-income households, and women recovering from trauma.
The Tradeswomen Australia Group and Tradeswomen Australia Community Foundation (TWACF) launched the initiative on Saturday.
The program has been privately funded by The Lord Mayors Charitable Fund, Wyndham council and Victoria University and will assist women to enter the trades with information, connections and support.
The program will include six sessions between March and June, to be held on Saturdays, with one three-hour workshop per month.
The workshops will introduce participants to a variety of roles within the trades industry, give them knowledge about these roles and develop relationships with mentors.
TWACF chair Janet Cribbes said with the lack of women engaged in the trades, at a time of skills shortages, a nationally-co-ordinated program was needed “to remove decades of discrimination against women being employed in the trades”.
“There is a need for all political parties to promote and explain their policies on increasing the opportunities for women to enter the trades area with an ongoing community awareness strategy and a reporting process to promote progress,” Ms Cribbes said.
“Getting more women into the trades area would see them taking home a weekly pay, earning up to $80 to $90 an hour, which would be life-changing, as part of a growing need for skilled trades to rebuild Australia’s economy.”
Details: tradeswomenaustralia.com.au/
