Highlights
- This program are vital in breaking down misconceptions about the types of job opportunities available to female migrants.
- The Migrant Worker Centre's Hyeseon Jeong hopes this will raise awareness among female migrants that they too have ample job opportunities in Australia.
- Participation of trainee women in trades industries has stayed at less than two per cent over the past 25 years, and it's hoped this pilot program program will help boost that number and diversify the sector.
Miriam Sowter was working in the hospitality industry when she first began considering other job prospects.
"One of my friends who is a goldminer by trade used to watch me come home in frustration and exhausted and feeling under-appreciated from my hospitality job, because it does take a lot of passion to stay in hospitality long-term."
It was the diminishing of that passion which saw Ms Sowter move into a trade.
Now in her third year as an Electrical Apprentice, she says it's a career move she hasn't regretted.
But she's is in a minority as the only woman on her team, in a field where her gender is seriously underrepresented.
Fiona McDonald is the Director at Trades Women Australia.
She hopes a new pilot program being launched by the group will help reverse that trend by attracting more women into the sector, particularly those from migrant backgrounds who've been hard-hit by the pandemic.
"So they were greater impacted compared to the other women we usually work with and we thought, well we need tailored programs to help them out of those situations and to gain access into something that's permanent, so they can access things like annual leave and sick pay, because it was just a critical time in what's going on in the environment and we really needed to come up with something that would support them."
Jacinta Stafford has been an employment coach for the last 17 years.
She says programs like this are vital in breaking down misconceptions about the types of job opportunities available to female migrants.
"Working with a lot of newly-arrived clients, one of the big problems is a lack of access to education. There's an issue around knowing what's exactly out there as far as work goes. Everyone tends to think it's just childcare or hairdressing, they don't understand the gamut of job opportunities that are actually available to them."
Additional support services, like translated material and transportation, will be provided to encourage women from multicultural communities to join.
Fiona McDonald says the monthly training sessions will provide a range of technical and educational knowledge to participants to help them through the program and beyond.
"We will do hand-on activities like learning how to manage the tools, and drill holes with things and hammer properly. We'll do a lot of educational things about the 65 different types of trades jobs that are out there, and then we'll have a whole recruitment support angle as well, so we'll help people with their resumes, their job applications and provide specialised coaching on interviewing for trade jobs."
The Migrant Worker Centre's Hyeseon Jeong hopes this will raise awareness among female migrants that they too have ample job opportunities in Australia.
"It is very likely that the migrant families will make the decision that men have better chances in the Australian job markets, so let's invest all the resources on men and women will stay home and do childcare."
Participation of trainee women in trades industries has stayed at less than two per cent over the past 25 years, and it's hoped this pilot program program will help boost that number and diversify the sector.
Those two things will have great benefits, according to women already on the tools like Miriam.
"I realise that being multilingual and multicultural and having gender diversity in the workplace really helps to make a nicer and healthier workplace culture. So for me, I love that aspect about the program because it means that I'm not only going to be seeing other women on-site, but I'll also see more diverse women on-site. Because you know, the trades I have noticed have been a very Anglo-dominated trade, male-dominated environment."
Jacinta Stafford says the benefits will also help people transition into Australian life.
"And the groups of women that I work with actually do the best when they're working together as a team. So often that support they get through the workplace, often from their colleagues who are often women also supporting them in that journey, is imperative in supporting them into a healthy, happy community life."
Trades Women Australia hopes to expand it nationally after a six month trial, which is currently recruiting.
