Women taking up the tools breaks records
The number of women joining the construction workforce has hit a new record, with Queensland leading the country in enrolments for female construction apprentices.
The National Centre for Vocational Education Research has released data that found Queensland recorded the highest ever number of females enrolling in a construction trade apprenticeship in any state in Australia.
It also found the total number of female construction apprentices in the state was higher than at any other point, with 1048 women currently in-training.
At this new rate, the percentage of female construction apprentices in-training in Queensland has more than doubled from around 1.5 per cent in 2010, to more than four per cent of all apprentices. This is higher than the national average of just over 3 per cent.
Construction Skills Queensland CEO Brett Schimming said the significant bump in female recruits to the industry was an encouraging milestone on an upward trend.
“The representation of women in the construction industry has been on the increase for the last decade, albeit at a very slow pace,” Schimming said.
Schimming said the increase in female apprentices echoes an overall increase in all construction apprentices in-training.