Women and apprenticeships: An Australian perspective

Abstract

The paper sets out to provide evidence towards explaining the disadvantaged position of women in apprenticeships in Australia. Women form only about one-third of apprenticeship commencements and are disproportionately concentrated in occupations which have proved vulnerable to policy changes, due to the influence of certain stakeholder groups. Despite well-meaning efforts, women have been reluctant to enter the "traditional trade" occupations. The paper provides evidence which explains the policy shifts which firstly extended the system to feminized occupations, and then disadvantaged those occupations. It proposes a new insight, based on an historical precedent, into recently renewed attempts to attract women into masculinized trade occupations. This is a major question which cannot be answered in one paper, but the paper will aid understanding.