QMI’s ‘Women Who Weld’ program increase participation in trades
“Women Who Weld” program sparks 20% rise in female interest in trade pathways.
Australia’s ongoing skills shortage in jobs traditionally reserved for men is being targeted with a program encouraging girls as young as 14 to learn the skills of industrial welding.
The one day “Women Who Weld” program involved 45 grade 10 students from schools involved in the “Gateway to Industry Program (GISP)for manufacturing & engineering in the Surat Basin. The program aims to encourage greater female participation in the male-dominated sector of manufacturing and trades generally.
“Typically, a school’s entire STEM agenda is focused on getting girls into tertiary studies, whereas this program shows there are options into trade pathways where STEM is still very important,” Dalby State High School Principal Dean Russell said.
“In many respects, this program has been a real game-changer for our girls, opening their eyes to a whole new world of career options in a sector traditionally dominated by men,” Mr Russell said.
Nationally, just over 12% of the engineering labour workforce is female, with the manufacturing workforce in Queensland at 72% male and ageing; more than half are aged 40 or older.
Men (92%) are far more likely than women to be employed full-time in trade and technical roles, with women predominantly employed in clerical and administrative roles, or as salespeople.
With the goal of building gender diversity in the workplace, Women Who Weld also aims to address our national trade skills shortage by exposing girls to welding as a gateway to the many job opportunities in the Western Downs flourishing manufacturing sector, where 76% of jobs are occupied by men.
“The girls were a bit nervous and apprehensive when they first entered the site, I think the noise and heat were a bit confronting as it would be for anyone entering an industrial workplace for the first time,” Dalby State High’s Trade Centre Manager Bruce Burt said.
“It was interesting to see the difference between boys who, I know from experience, often show a lot of bravado in that environment, versus the girls who were much better listeners and learners despite being unaccustomed to a workshop like that,” Mr Burt said.
Managed by QMI’s Gateway to Industry Schools Program for Manufacturing and Engineering, the inaugural welding workshops in 2018 were sponsored by coal seam gas manufacturer Arrow Energy, a major employer in the region who again sponsored this year’s program.
“Arrow is proud to support this initiative that helps develop the skills and talents of young people in the areas where we operate,” Vice President External Relations and Tenure Management, Leisa Elder said.
“It is especially gratifying to encourage another generation of women to have greater participation in a non-traditional industry and we wish them the very best.”
Sixteen-year-old Ashleigh Msimango, who’s family moved from South Africa less than two years ago, is eyeing a career in industrial design after undertaking the first welding course last year.
“There were always motivational speeches given to us in South Africa about gender equality in workplaces, but this program in Dalby where I live now is a real opportunity for me to try something new, and I’ve just loved the experience,” Ashleigh said.
“Seeing how things were made has given me a real understanding of the process of manufacturing, and I’m really inspired now to look at the industrial design elements of engineering,” she said.
Program Manager Jules McMurtrie, whose data shows a 20% increase in female participation in trade pathways as a result of the Women Who Weld program, says businesses are crying out for school leavers keen on jobs like welding.
“Ninety-eight per cent of the businesses I deal with say they would pay for a young person’s higher education in engineering or similar technical degree, if that person committed to a trade pathway in the first instance,” Ms McMurtrie said.
“Employers are really after job ready people with the right attitude and having a trade background often leads to better quality engineers, designers, salespeople or quality controllers because the recruit has a better understanding of how things are actually produced.”
“We have to encourage more students into the trade space because the manufacturing jobs of the future are in global growth areas like design, biomedical, aerospace, defense, marine and even into the new industrial revolution (industry 4.0) where cyber physical systems like robotics and automation will be populated by more women in the future,” she said.
The Women Who Weld program will soon be available as a teacher resource kit for all gateway schools in 2020, allowing them to run their own Women Who Weld one day course to encourage female participation within their schools.
References:
· https://economy.id.com.au/toowoomba/workers-key-statistics?WebID=100&Indkey=23003
More about “Women Who Weld”
Aims
· To broaden the horizons of women in the Manufacturing and Engineering Industry
· To encourage visible gender equality in the workplace
· To provide women with new and rewarding job opportunities
· To strengthen and encourage self-esteem in women
· To produce skilled and confident welders who are women
· To respond creatively to our national trade skills shortage
· To encourage women to build closer industry relationships with their local communities
· To educate women to experience the breadth of opportunities in the Manufacturing and Engineering industries
More about
Gateway To Industry Schools Program (GISP) Manufacturing and Engineering
· The GISP has been hosted by QMI Solutions since 2009.
· The GISP is a component of a state wide industry engagement and workforce development strategy to support the long-term development of a highly skilled workforce in Queensland.
· QMI assists to deliver the vision of the Queensland Government, committed to growing manufacturing in this state as a critical driver of innovation and productivity in the economy.
