MYTH-BUSTING WEB SERIES LAUNCHED TO ENCOURAGE MORE WĀHINE INTO THE TRADE INDUSTRY

PILOT PROGRAMME INTRODUCED FOR EMPLOYERS TO KICKSTART FEMALE HIRES IN THE TRADE INDUSTRY

Trade Careers have launched a creative myth-busting web series to encourage more New Zealand women into the trades, along with a toolkit to empower employees to hire female staff. At present, only 13.5% of all workers in the trades are women, and there are only 2.6% of women on the tools. Trade Careers believe that number should be much higher.

Hosted on tradecareers.co, the light-hearted series features multi-award-winning comedian Tess Waters in character as ‘Dave’, an employer on a journey to hire more women in the trade industry, alongside Billy-T Award winning comedian and actress Kura Forrester representing female employees.

With a new episode dropping each week, the series shares experiences of women currently working in the trades, along with inspiring industry leaders to bust myths about hiring females.

‘Dave’ represents an amalgamation of data gathered from over 1,000 NZ tradies who have expressed interest in hiring a woman. ‘Dave’ says: “I’ve learnt so much about how to get it right for women on site and also how to manage the lads' reaction to having more women in the industry. My advice? Give it a red hot go!”

Employers in the trade industry are being asked to sign up to a free pilot programme, offering useful tools and information for hiring women to their teams.

Kelly Bennett, Principal Advisor, WITC commented: “We heard that lots of Kiwi women are keen to enter the trades and that employers really want to hire them – both groups just need a chance to meet each other and find out more about how it all works. Our pilot programme with videos, toolkits, site visits, and events are a fun, useful way to get answers to all the questions you’ve always wanted to ask.”

Dave added: “Women in trades is not a new thing, it’s a great thing!”

In April, Trade Careers ran a nationwide survey to gather information and find ways to boost the number of women working in the infrastructure and construction sector, a sector crying-out for great wāhine staff. Survey results are set to be released on 25th August, with evidence found that both employers and potential employees would like to learn more about each other. Trade Careers hopes to uncover what the barriers are, and to explore the opportunities to see more females enter the industry.

Trade Careers is presented by Women in Trades Collective (WITC) and is supported by BCITO, Connexis, Skills and Competenz. Trade Careers received funding from the Tertiary Education Commission.