Up to 60 female TAFE students will get the chance to enter traditionally male trades such as bricklaying and metal engineering.
It comes courtesy of a funding grant to South Western Sydney Institute – TAFE NSW.
The Member for Menai, Melanie Gibbons, says the $25,000 grant was awarded under the NSW Government’s Investing in Women funding program.
South Western Sydney Institute – TAFE NSW was one of nine successful applicants selected to receive funding.
Ms Gibbons said the South Western Sydney Institute will deliver a five-day trade readiness program for 60 young women considering a career in a non-traditional trade.
The students will be given the opportunity to develop trade entry skills in carpentry, plumbing, shop-fitting, bricklaying, automotive, signage, wall and floor tiling, horticulture, butchery and commercial cookery, and metal engineering.
“I am pleased to see organisations working towards encouraging local women to enter a career in a non-traditional trade,” Ms Gibbons said.
The Investing in Women program aims to increase the economic participation of women in NSW by providing funding to training organisations, local councils, employers, industry bodies and non-government organisations to develop partnership projects that encourage girls and women to enter non-traditional trades.
Non-traditional trades are those with less than 25 per cent participation of women, such as plumbers, carpenters, automotive technicians, electricians, roof tilers, and landscapers.
Ms Gibbons said it was encouraging to see South Western Sydney Institute – TAFE NSW leading the way in training and encouraging women to enter non-traditional trades in the local community.
“Thanks to the Investing in Women program we will see more women participating in roles traditionally dominated by men, which will have a positive flow on effect for our local economy,” Ms Gibbons said.
