women in trades: the missing 48 · pdf filewomen’s participation in technical and trades...

Women in trades: the missing 48 percentWomen NSW Occasional Paper March 2013

ISSN 2201-8905

Enquiries regarding research and analysis should be directed to Caroline Alcorso or Adam Smith. Enquiriesabout the Women in Trades Strategy should be directed to Tish Creenaune. Please contact them via email at: [email protected]

Contents

Executive summary 4

Introduction 5

Women in trades occupations over time 7

Gender segregation in other parts of the workforce 14

Women’s participation in technical and trades training 17

Women’s trajectory and experiences within trades occupations 23

Other research on gender and trades 32

Conclusion 34

Appendix 35

Women in trades: the missing 48 percent

Executive summary

This research paper explores the pattern of women’s employment in trade and technical jobs in Australia and specifically in NSW.

In many technical and professional occupations women’s share of the workforce has been increasing over time. For example, women have made up 50 percent or more of professional occupations since the mid-2000s. There are more challenges in the construction, automotive and electro-technology trades where women have been the ‘missing 48 percent’ - less than two percent of the workforce - for the last 25 years.

Deeply embedded cultural attitudes and practices influence how girls perceive work in non-traditional trades, how employers and workers view female workers, and how the jobs themselves are structured, often having been designed to suit men’s rather than women’s lives. Research suggests that the education and training system tends to reproduce the labour market divisions between ‘women’s’ and ‘men’s’ jobs.

As a result, breaking down divisions is important on many counts. As well as broadening the economic opportunities available to women in Australia, achieving the employment of more women in trades has the potential to challenge stereotypes and change gender relationships. For industry, it can create a dynamic new workforce that will bring different and improved ways of working.

This paper identifies engineering, information technology and science technicians, and skilled animal and horticultural trades as occupations where women have increased their representation in recent decades. These new areas of employment opportunity supplement the traditional ‘female’ trades of hairdressing and cookery. The analysis also suggests that working hours and work-life balance may be key issues for future progress.

Woman worker in an Australian munitions factory circa 1944.

4 ● Women NSW | Women in trades: the missing 48 percent

Women NSW | Women in trades: the missing 48 percent ● 5

Introduction

Fewer than two percent of construction, automotive and electrical tradespeople in Australia today are women. There were just 676 female carpenters, 931 female motor mechanics, 638 female plumbers and 1,432 female electricians nation-wide in 2011 within a total technicians and trades workforce of nearly 1.43 million people, just over 14 percent of the workforce.1 In the largest single trade occupation in Australia – that of electrician – women were just 1.3 percent of the total.

Despite awareness of the issue and government and non-government initiatives since the 1980s, women today have a substantial foothold in only a handful of trade and technical occupations. These include hairdressing and cooking (both trades associated with women’s traditional domestic roles), medical technicians, and animal care roles such as veterinary nurse and animal attendant. Of the 212,000 women in trades and technical jobs nation-wide, nearly 46,000 are hairdressers and over 39,000 are cooks or chefs.2 (A full list is at Appendix Table 1A).

Gender-based occupational segregation of the workforce is a feature of labour markets around the world. Australian patterns of workforce segregation in the trades seem remarkable but the percentages of women electricians, carpenters and mechanics in other English speaking countries are also low, ranging between two and three percent.

How did this degree of male domination within the trades workforce develop? How has it been sustained, given women’s entry into so many other areas of social life, and over three decades of equal opportunity and anti-discrimination laws and policies?

In a period of trade labour shortages and successful government initiatives to boost the numbers of apprenticeships and traineeships, why haven’t market forces also generated a flow of women into trades?

1 ABS (2012) Census of Population and Housing 2011, figures generated using ABS TableBuilder and rounded.2 While women outnumber men in the trade of ‘cook’, in the separate trade of ‘chef’, only 24 per cent or 14,000 are

women. Women also outnumber men in several small trades including animal attendants and trainers, veterinary nurses, clothing trades workers and gallery, medical technicians and library and museum technicians.


This paper summarises research on women in trades which informs Women NSW’s approach to increasing the number of women in traditionally male-dominated jobs. The NSW State Plan contains a target to increase the percentage of women working in non-traditional occupations.3 A Women in Trades Strategy and an advisory NSW Council of Women’s Economic Opportunities develop and implement strategies to achieve this (see www.women.nsw.gov.au and below).

3 NSW 2021, the State Plan contains a target (1.3.4) which is ‘Increase the proportion of women employed in non-traditional occupations in NSW’.


Women in trades occupations over time

The 25 years from 1987 to 2012 has seen some increase in the percentage of women in the occupational group ‘Technicians and Trades Workers’ in NSW. Women’s share grew from around 10 percent of tradespeople in 1987 to 15 percent in 2012. Some of the growth is due to the reclassification as trades of jobs previously classified in other categories, as will be explained below. Figure 1 shows the more recent period from 1997, while the earlier period is discussed on pages 9 to 11.

Figure 1 Women’s percentage of technicians and trades workers, NSW, 1997 to 2012

10.0

10.5

11.0

11.5

12.0

12.5

13.0

13.5

14.0

14.5

15.0

96/97 97/98 98/99 99/00 00/01 01/02 02/03 03/04 04/05 05/06 06/07 07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12

Year (12 months to May)

Perc

enta

ge w

omen

(%)

Technicians and Trades Workers

Population: Employed people aged 15 years and over in NSW. Source: ABS Labour Force Australia, SuperTable E08, average across four quarters to May, Supercube data generated using Supercross and rounded.

Which trades? Women’s representation by trades sub-group

Women’s representation across the different trades and technical sub-groups has changed over the 15 years to 2012. As shown in Table 1, the two sub-groups showing the most growth in terms of women’s participation were ‘Other technicians and trades’ and ‘Skilled animal and horticultural’. Women increased their employment in the Other technicians and trades sub-group by 14 percentage points since 1996-7, now making up nearly half that subgroup. They increased their presence in Skilled animal and horticultural sub-group by 12 percentage points to 34 percent.


Women’s participation in the rest of the trades sub-groups fluctuated but remained relatively constant.

In the core trades which are ‘non-traditional’ for women, such as construction, electrical and automotive, there was little change.4

Table 1: Women in technicians and trades sub-groups, NSW, 1997, 2007 and 2012

1996-7 2006-7 2011-12Occupation % femaleOther technicians and trades* (incl. hairdressers)

34 42 48

Skilled animal and horticultural 22 22 34Food trades 24 30 25Engineering, ICT and science technicians

23 24 25

Electrotechnology & telecommunications trades

3 2 2

Construction trades 1 1 1Automotive and engineering trades 1 1 0Technicians and trades nfd** - - -Total technicians and trades workers 12 14 15

*Other technicians and trades includes wood tradesworkers and printing tradesworkers as well as hairdressers. **The nfd sub-group covers technicians and trades workers not further defined.Population: Employed people aged 15 years and over in NSW.Source: ABS Labour Force Australia, SuperTable E08, average across four quarters to May. Supercube data generated using Supercross and rounded. Analysis uses the ANZSCO classification system.

4 The NSW State Plan defines occupations as ‘non-traditional’ for women as those where women make up less than 25 percent of the workforce.


Figure 2 below compares two years only to show recent changes more clearly. Women’s share increase in ‘Other technicians and trades’ and ‘Skilled animal and horticultural’ is evident.

Figure 2 Women in technicians and trades sub-groups, NSW, 1997 and 2012

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55

Other Technicians and Trades

Skilled Animal and Horticultural

Food Trades Workers

Engineering, ICT and ScienceTechnicians

Electrotechnology andTelecommunications Trades

Construction Trades

Automotive and EngineeringTrades

96/97 11/12

Population: Employed people aged 15 years and over in NSW.Source: ABS Labour Force Australia, SuperTable E08, average across four quarters to May. Supercube data generated using Supercross and rounded. Analysis uses the ANZSCO classification system. Nfd category is not included.

Back to 1987

The ABS introduced a new occupational classification system in 19965 so the data for the pre-1996 time period is presented separately.

Table 2 shows NSW women’s representation in trades sub-groups in 1987. Although the occupational groups cannot be compared directly with those in Table 1 it is apparent that the percentages in hairdressing and food trades, and women’s absence from the core non-traditional trades for women was similar in 1987 to later decades.

5 The Australian Standard Classification of Occupations second edition was introduced into the ABS Labour Force, Australia survey from August 1996 onwards. See ABS (2009) ANZSCO, Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations First Edition, Revision 1, Cat no. 1220.0, p. 10.


However, in 1987 women were significant participants in the printing trade, making up 21 percent of the workforce. The printing industry had undergone technological transformation since the mid-1970s whereby the large Linotype typesetting machines were replaced by offset printing and machines that relied on the QWERTY keyboard and visual display units. Women rapidly entered the printing trades following this change, and by 1986 made up 33 percent of compositors in NSW compared to 5.6 percent in 1976 (Reed and Mander-Jones 1993:4).6 Compositors alone accounted for nearly 2,400 workers in NSW in 1986.7

Table 2: Women in trades, NSW, 1987

Occupation1986-7

%Miscellaneous tradespersons (incl. hairdressers)

38

Food tradespersons 23Printing tradespersons 21Amenity horticultural tradespersons 7Other metal tradespersons 3Metal fitting and machining tradespersons 2Electrical and electronic tradespersons 2Building tradespersons 1Vehicle tradespersons 0Tradespersons nfd* -Total technicians and trades workers 10

*This unit group covers technicians and trades workers not elsewhere classified.Population: Employed people aged 15 years and over in NSW.Source: ABS Labour Force Australia, SuperTable E08, average across four quarters to May quarter, Supercube data generated using Supercross and rounded. Analysis uses the ASCO classification system for trades occupations.

As noted above, some of the growth in women’s share between 1987 and 2012 was due to the emergence or reclassification as ‘technical and trades’ of occupations in which women are well-represented rather than shifts within traditional trades occupations.

6 Reed, Rosslyn and Mander-Jones, Jessica (1993) Women in printing, Australian Department of Employment, Education and Training.

7 Today, printing tradespersons are a smaller group in the workforce and are combined with the ‘Other trades’ sub-group. Women still make up 37.7 percent of ‘pre-press graphic trades workers’, but this group covers several printing trades as well as compositors and represents only 1,600 workers.


For example, veterinary nurses, medical technicians and science technicians (or the precursor occupations) were included in the new classification of ‘technical and trades occupations’ in the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) 2006. Previously, in the first and second editions of the Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO) they were classed as para-professionals. In 2011, women made up 96 percent, 78 percent and 51 percent respectively of people working in these occupations and the three occupations accounted for 21 percent of all technical and tradeswomen nation-wide (see Appendix Table 1A).8

Taken together, Tables 1 and 2 show the concentration of women in the ‘Other’ (in 1986 ‘Miscellaneous’) trades group, which includes hairdressers.9 They also show the relatively strong presence of women in:

●● the skilled animal and horticultural trades (mainly as veterinary nurses, animal attendants and trainers and florists)

●● the food trades (as cooks and to a lesser extent chefs); and

●● engineering, ICT and science technicians (where women work mainly as medical, science and ICT support technicians).

As noted earlier, the absence of women in the largest and most segregated trades, automotive, construction and electrical has changed little since 1987.

8 The group para-professional (in ASCO 1st edition) or associate professional (in ASCO 2nd edition) was discontinued in the ANZSCO classification. The occupations within it were split between several other major groups, including ‘managers’, ‘professionals’ and ‘trades and technical’. See ABS 2009.

9 It is perhaps telling that the women’s largest trade occupation does not have its own sub-group within statistical classifications.

Offset printer, the use of which was accompanied by more women entering the printing workforce.


Back to 1971

Looking further back in time, in 1971 women made up 3.4 percent of ‘Trade-dominated occupational groups’ (the previously used CCLO10 classification) and 4.5 percent of this group thirteen years later in 1984 (Bradley 1993:191).11 Forty years later, in 2011, women comprised 1.8 percent of a similar grouping of occupations12 although a rigorous comparison between women’s share of these occupations then and now would need to take account of the different growth rates of individual occupations.

…it is clear that women’s representation in non-traditional trades and especially in the core trades of construction, electrical and automotive has been consistently tiny for three decades at least…

Despite the classificatory changes and the caution needed when making comparisons, it is clear that women’s representation in non-traditional trades and especially in the core trades of construction, electrical and automotive (which account for over half the skilled trades workforce) has been consistently tiny for three decades at least.13 Watts (2003:648)14 who has used more sophisticated statistical techniques to measure gender segregation between 1991 and 2000 concluded that:

Blue collar skilled employment continues to stagnate and remains highly segregated with a high full-time share of employment… There is little prospect of these occupations exhibiting gender integration in the future.

10 The ABS introduced the Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO) into ABS collections progressively from May 1986. It replaced the previously used Classification and Classified List of Occupations (CCLO). See ABS (1994) Australian Standard Classification of Occupations, Information Paper Cat no. 1221.0.

11 Bradley, Denise (1993) ‘Changes in female entry to trade training in South Australia’, Australian Journal of Social Issues, Vol 28, No. 3 pp 187 – 211.

12 The occupations are motor mechanics, metal fitters and machinists, precision metal trades, toolmakers and engineering patternmakers, bricklayers and stonemasons, painting trades, glaziers, plasterers, roof tilers, wall and floor tilers, carpenters and joiners, plumbers, electricians, air-conditioning and refrigeration mechanics, electrical distribution trades, electronics trades, telecommunications trades, wood machinists and other wood trades, cabinetmakers, printers, binders, finishers and screen printers, jewellers (historical figures and occupational details taken from Bradley 1993: 191; 2011 data is from the ABS Labour Force Australia, SuperTable E08, average across four quarters, Supercube data generated using Supercross and rounded. The comparison must be made with caution as many of the historic occupations no longer exist in the same form.

13 These three trades account for 47 percent of total tradespeople in 1986, 50 percent in 1995, 58 percent in 2006 and 56 percent in 2012.

14 Watts, Martin (2003) ‘The evolution of occupational gender segregation in Australia: measurement and interpretation’ in the Australian Journal of Labour Economics, Vol 6, no. 4, December 2003. pp 631- 655.


Preston and Whitehouse (2004:11) looking at a slightly later period similarly commented:

Women made little progress in accessing male-dominated fields at the lower levels of the skill hierarchy.15

As a point of comparison with the trades, what changes in gender-based occupational segregation have occurred in the Australian workforce as a whole?

The next section looks at how women’s share of the major occupational groups has changed over time.

15 Preston, Alison and Whitehouse, Gillian (2004) Gender differences in occupation of employment within Australia, Women’s Economic Policy Analysis Unit Working Paper no. 36.


Gender segregation in other parts of the workforce

…gender integration was occurring in the more highly paid and higher status parts of the workforce…

While gender segregation persisted within most trades during the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, gender integration was occurring in the more highly paid and higher status parts of the workforce. Crockett (1996:273) reports that women became better represented in law, business, computing and a wide range of hard science occupations during the period 1981 to 1991 in Australia. Women’s participation in professions such as surveyor, metallurgist, chemical engineer and architect more than doubled.

Preston and Whitehouse (2004:12) document 29 managerial, professional and associate professional occupations which became more integrated in the period 1996 to 2002.

Table 3 on the following page shows how in NSW, women’s representation increased in the relatively highly skilled ‘manager’ group of occupations through four successive censuses to 2011.

It is interesting to note that by the time of the 2011 Census, women made up nearly half (49 percent) of the employed workforce in NSW.


Table 3: Women’s share of major occupational groups, NSW, successive censuses

1996(a) 2001 2006 2011% female

Managers 31 32 35 36Professionals 50 51 52 53Technicians and trades workers(b) 13 14 15 15Community and personal service workers 63 64 67 67Clerical and administrative workers 76 77 76 76Sales workers 60 60 61 61Machinery operators and drivers 15 13 10 9Labourers 38 36 35 34Inadequately described/Not stated 40 42 41 41Total 44 45 46 49

■●Became more integrated■●Became more segregated

(a) All occupations were coded to the 2006 ANZSCO. Data for 1996 and 2001 have been concorded.(b) In 1996 and 2001 ‘Technicians and trades workers’ includes Engineering, information and communications technology and science technicians and tradespersons.Population: Employed people aged 15 years and over in NSW.Source: ABS (2007) 2006 Census Tables, Cat no. 2068.0.

Changes in three occupational groups over the census years from 1996 to 2011 are shown in Figure 3.

Women became more integrated into the highly male-dominated occupational group, ‘managers’ while remaining a minority in that group. Meanwhile the group ‘labourers’ became less integrated (more male-dominated) and the group ‘community and personal service workers’ became more female-dominated.


Figure 3 Women’s share of three major occupational groups, NSW, successive censuses

31 3235 36

3836 35 34

63 6467 67

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

1996 2001 2006 2011

Perc

enta

ge W

omen

Managers Labourers Clerical and administrative workers

(a) All occupations were coded to the 2006 Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations.(b) In 1996 and 2001 ‘Technicians and trades workers’ includes Engineering, information and communications technology and science technicians and tradespersons.Population: Employed people aged 15 years and over in NSW.Source: ABS (2007) 2006 Census Tables, Cat no. 2068.0.

From the data presented above, it can be said that women appear to have:

●● moved away from male-dominated jobs where these are at the low-end of the skills hierarchy (such as machinery operators, labourers)

●● maintained their presence in traditional female-dominated occupations

●● slightly increased their presence in trades and technical jobs; and

●● significantly increased their presence in jobs at the middle and high end of the skills hierarchy, whether these have been traditionally male dominated or not.

Summarising trends in occupational segregation and integration is a difficult task requiring sophisticated statistical analysis and attention to how job titles and categories have changed over time. Much depends on the level of observation. Trends can be observed at the level of broad occupational groups, such as ‘managers’ and ‘trades and technical workers’; sub-groups such as ‘electrical and electronic tradespersons’; individual occupations such as ‘electrician’; or workplaces, which Watts (2003) argues are the most segregated of all.


Women’s participation in technical and trades training

Apprenticeships and traineeships are a standard pathway into trade occupations because they are a longstanding and well-accepted route to becoming a tradesperson and because a trade qualification is a license condition in some fields.

Formally, an apprentice or trainee is a person who has been employed in a recognised trade or traineeship vocation and who has entered into a training contract with his/her employer under the NSW Apprenticeship and Traineeship Act 2001.

Electricians at Ausgrid, the NSW Government electricity distribution company where a women’s work experience program was conducted in November 2012.


Apprentices and trainees combine employment, on-the-job training and (usually) off-the-job training. They are, however, a relatively small group within the VET student population. In 2011, apprentices and trainees commencing trade and technical occupations made up 5 percent of all VET student commencements and 17 percent of all VET students in NSW.16

Women’s participation in trade and technical training tends to parallel their participation in trades and technical employment…

Seventeen percent of commencing NSW apprentices and trainees in 2011 were women. Women were concentrated in technical areas17, where they made up 36 percent of commencing apprentices and trainees, as can be seen below. This clustering parallels the clustering in the workforce, described previously.

16 All VET data reported in this paper is for publicly funded vocational education and training courses only, which includes all TAFE NSW students plus publicly funded students in private Registered Training Organisations (RTOs). It does not include school-based apprentices and trainees, or those paying fee-for-service in private RTOs. In 2011 there were 586,740 VET students in total. The total number of VET students includes commencing and continuing students as well as those studying a single subject without a qualification

17 The division in the table between trades and technical is illustrative but not exact. It follows the division the NCVER (the National Centre for Vocational Education Research) makes between what it terms traditional and non-traditional trades.


Trades apprenticeships/traineeships Women = 13% of commencements

Technical apprenticeships/traineeships Women = 36% of commencements

ICT and Telecommunications Technicians*

Automotive Electricians and Mechanics

Fabrication Engineering Trades Workers

Mechanical Engineering Trades Workers

Panelbeaters, and Vehicle Body Builders, Trimmers, Painters

Bricklayers, and Carpenters and Joiners

Floor Finishers and Painting Trades Workers

Glaziers, Plasterers and Tilers

Plumbers

Electricians

Food Trades Workers

Electronics and Telecommunications Trades Workers

Animal Attendants and Trainers, and Shearers*

Horticultural Trades Workers

Printing Trades Workers

Hairdressers

Textile, Clothing and Footwear Trades Workers

Wood Trades Workers

Miscellaneous Technicians and Trades Workers* –Boat Builders and Shipwrights, Jewellers, Signwriters – Other Miscellaneous Technicians and Trades Workers^

Agricultural, Medical and Science Technicians

Building and Engineering Technicians

ICT and Telecommunications Technicians*

ICT Support Technicians

Animal Attendants and Trainers, and Shearers*

Animal Attendants and Trainers

Veterinary Nurses

Miscellaneous Technicians and Trades Workers*

Chemical, Gas, Petroleum & Power Plant Operators

Gallery, Library and Museum Technicians

Performing Arts Technicians

Other Miscellaneous Technicians and Trades Workers

* Minor group which includes trades and technical.^ Includes Diver, Interior decorator, Optical dispenser, Optical mechanic, Photographers assistant, Plastics technician and Fire protection equipment technician.

Women = 17% of total (trades and technical) apprenticeship and traineeship commencements.


Figure 4 below illustrates the more diverse choices made by male compared to female apprentices and trainees. Over 50 percent of women are in hairdressing and a further 33 percent are in the food trades (cooks, bakers and pastrycooks, and butchers and smallgoods makers). Few women are spread over the remaining trades, coloured dark gray.

By contrast, men are distributed across a wider range of trades apprenticeships with motor mechanics, carpenters and electricians all accounting for a sizeable share (see also Appendix Tables 2A, 3A and Figure 1A). More commence in various other trades (dark grey).

Figure 4 Women and men commencing trades apprenticeships and traineeships in 2011, NSW

HairdrHairdressersessers

Food trades workers

Horticultural trades workers

Automotive electricians and mechanics

Bricklayers, and carpenters and joiners

Electricians

Other

Women

Men

Hairdressers


Change in trade apprentice and trainee commencements between 2001 and 2011

…the ratio of women to men in the trades as opposed to technical occupations has declined since 2001…

The number of women commencing an apprenticeship or traineeship in the combined group, technical and trade occupations rose at a similar rate to men during the last decade. Overall, women’s commencements grew 66 percent in the period compared with a 67 percent increase in the number of men. Both women and men sustained falls during the Global Financial Crisis, and also in 2011.

However, commencements in trades as opposed to technical occupations (column one on p.19) grew much more slowly for women than men with a 16 percent increase in the number of women and a 51 percent increase in the number of men.

Consequently, the ratio of women to men in the trades declined since 2001, as a result of the percentage increase of men being more than three times higher than that of women (Figure 5).

Figure 5 Sex ratio of commencements in trades and technical occupations, NSW, 2001 to 2011

12

36

16

31

0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Per

cent

age

(%)

Trades

Technical

Population: NSW apprentices and trainees. Source: VOCSTATS, Apprenticeship and Traineeship Collection.


The ratio of women within technical areas has experienced a fluctuating pattern over the past 10 years within a range from 25 percent to 51 percent, also shown in Figure 5.

Apprentices and trainees in Australian states and territories

Women’s representation among apprentices and trainees (excluding hairdressers) is highest in NSW within a range from 12.1 percent women in NSW to 4.0 percent women in the Northern Territory (see map below).

Figure 6: Women’s share of apprenticeship and traineeship commencements, 2011, excluding hairdressers

The differences reflect the different industry profiles of the various states and territories. As noted above, in NSW the percentage of women in technical jobs (particularly medical technicians, animal attendants18 and library technicians) has been growing quickly and is related to the high demand for technicians in NSW’s large health and social assistance, information and cultural industries.

18 Racehorse trainer traineeships in NSW, for example, went from having a 25 percent share of women in 2002 to a 58 percent share of women in 2011.


Women’s trajectories and experiences within trades occupations

What do we know about the experiences of girls and women working in male-dominated trades?

One of the challenges in studying women in non-traditional trades is that sample surveys (such as the ABS labour force surveys and HILDA surveys) can only be used in a limited way because the numbers of tradeswomen are so small. Qualitative research can of course provide rich information on small groups of women, but the quantitative data commonly used for other parts of the workforce has limited application.

We have relied on census data and an innovative approach to HILDA data to overcome this problem.19 First, the birthplace diversity of NSW’s tradeswomen is described.

Cultural background of tradeswomen

It was noted above that some 15 percent of NSW technicians and trades workers were women in 2011. The percentages are higher for overseas-born women, at 18 percent overall at the time of the 2011 Census. Women who have immigrated from some regions of the world stand out, reflecting the different structure of the workforce in other countries, how they have been integrated into the Australian workforce and perhaps immigration selection criteria. These are:

Birthplace % China (including Mongolia) 20 Eastern Europe 21 Japan and Koreas 26 South-East Asia 25 US and Canada 24

The high representation of women from some non-English speaking countries in the trades workforce accords with observations made to Women NSW by trade teachers about the notable ethnic diversity among their female students.

19 The methodology is described in Watson, Ian (2012a) Qualitative career paths of women in the trades 2001 to 2010, Report for NSW CWEO, available at www.women.nsw.gov.au


Pay

…tradesmen are over-represented at the high end of the income spectrum…

According to the 2011 Census, women have a lower earnings profile than men within the trades. There are disproportionate numbers of high-income tradesmen, and low-income tradeswomen.

As Figure 7 shows, men are over-represented at the top end of the income spectrum, among those with weekly incomes of between $1,000 and $2,000/week. Women are over-represented among those whose weekly income was below $800/week.20

Figure 7 Tradespeople’s weekly incomes by sex, 2011

Population: Full-time technicians and trades workers as defined in ANZSCO 2006.Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing 2011.

20 The Census provides data on people’s weekly incomes, which are not directly comparable to wage and salary earnings, but for people in trades occupations are likely to be close.

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Percentage (%)

Wee

kly

inco

me

$2,000 or more

$1,500-$1,999

$1,250-$1,499

$1,000-$1,249

$800-$999

$600-$799

$400-$599

$300-$399

$200-$299

$1-$199

Women Men


One reason for the large gender differences in incomes is the presence of many low-paid hairdressers among the women.21 However, excluding hairdressers and cooks (the two largest female-dominated trades) reduces but does not eliminate the gap between tradesmen’s and tradeswomen’s incomes (Figure 8).

Figure 8 Selected tradespeople’s weekly incomes by sex, 2011

Population: Full-time technicians and trades workers as defined in ANZSCO 2006, excluding hairdressers and cooks.Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2011.

In other words, women appear to receive lower incomes than their male colleagues within trades and technical occupations, as well as being concentrated in low-paid ones (see also below).

Watson (2012:9) found a similar pattern in 2006.22 He also found that gender gaps in income between tradeswomen and tradesmen were larger than within the employed population as a whole. The gap between women and men at every income bracket was greater (p.13).

21 When women form the majority in an occupation, the wages in that occupation tend to be lower than a similar skill level male-majority occupation.

22 Watson, Ian (2012) Gender segregation in the trades: insights from Census data, Report for the Office of Women’s Policy, available from www.women.nsw.gov.au

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Percentage (%)

Wee

kly

inco

me

$2,000 or more

$1,500-$1,999

$1,250-$1,499

$1,000-$1,249

$800-$999

$600-$799

$400-$599

$300-$399

$200-$299

$1-$199

Women Men


In 2006:

●● about 50 percent of all full-time employed women earned below $800/week

●● around 73 percent of full-time employed tradeswomen earned less than $800/week.

…women in non-traditional trades were often financially better off if they left their trade for another occupation…

Examining women who have left the trades can give us further clues about tradeswomen’s pay and also their perceptions about this important aspect of employment. Watson 2012a23 looks at the fortunes of a sample group of women who were working in trades and technical occupations in 2001, following the same people through the labour market until 2010. The analysis revealed that:

…women were better off financially if they were working in a non-traditional [male] trade than in a traditional female trade… (p. 1).

But women in non-traditional trades were often financially better off still if they left their trade for another occupation. Some of the individual women’s stories described by Watson suggest that this may in part be because of the low wages received by apprentices, as suggested by Rosie’s trajectory:

23 Watson, Ian (2012a) Qualitative career paths of women in the trades 2001 to 2010, Report for NSW CWEO, available at www.women.nsw.gov.au The data used is the population of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey which is a representative longitudinal household survey. The geographical coverage is Australia.


Rosie, metal fitter

Rosie had been working as a metal fitter in 2001 and then moved into a job in community services (as a carer) in 2002, before moving back to metal fitting in 2003. She was very dissatisfied in her trades job in 2001 (scoring 3),* something which improved considerably in 2002 when she moved to the non-trades job (scoring 6) and then improved again when she moved back to the trades job in 2003 (scoring 7). This was her rating of the job overall. In terms of the pay, or other aspects of the jobs (hours, flexibility etc) there were only minor changes as Rosie moved through these jobs. While it is difficult to know for sure, her trades job in 2001 was probably an apprenticeship: she was aged 24 and was earning less than $12 an hour. In the carer job Rosie was earning about twice this amount.

When Rosie assessed her use of skills in these jobs, as well as her opportunity to learn new skills, the trades jobs fared poorly, particularly when she returned. By contrast, she rated the skills content of the carer job much more highly. On the other hand, Rosie did not rate this caring job very highly in terms of job autonomy, nor the fairness of the pay for the work required.

*Note: The satisfaction scale used in the HILDA survey is 0 (negative) to 7 (positive).Source: Watson 2012a: 24.

Other pay-related findings from tracking female and male tradespeople over ten years from 2001 to 2010 were:

●● Women working in non-traditional trades experienced a considerable premium over their counterparts in traditional female trades at every age and stage of their working life (Figure 9).

●● The gap was slightly greater for annual wages than for hourly rates.

●● Despite their earnings premium, women in non-traditional trades expressed only marginally more satisfaction with pay than expressed by women in traditionally female trades.24

As we discuss below, these findings are partly explained by the shorter hours women tradespeople work compared to male tradespeople.

24 Perhaps not surprising, since people usually make wage comparisons relative to those they work with and know.


Figure 9 Age earnings profiles of women in trades occupations, 2001 (%)

Note: Dollar amounts are (CPI-indexed) 2010 dollars, but the period to which they refer is 2001.Population: Full-time technicians and trades workers as defined in ANZSCO 2006.Source: HILDA data, as analysed and published in Watson 2012a:14.

On the issue of who fared better in terms of pay out of ‘stayers’ or ‘leavers’:

●● Women who left the trades for professional and service jobs fared much better than those who stayed in trades over the ten-year period.

●● The pay gap between ‘stayers’ and ‘leavers’ was greater for women in female trades.

●● Women who left for clerical and sales occupations fared worse than those who stayed in trades over the period (Watson 2012a:30-31).


Work-life balance in the trades

Women in non-traditional trades expressed relatively low levels of satisfaction with the hours of work…

Women in non-traditional trades expressed high levels of satisfaction with the work itself and the job overall. However, they expressed relatively low levels of satisfaction with the hours of work.

Moreover, work-life balance was the only job characteristic that women who left non-traditional trades expressed greater satisfaction with compared to those who stayed, suggesting that ability to balance work and life or family may be important in strategies to retain tradeswomen in their trade and prevent them changing jobs. Watson (2012a:20) notes:

On the other items related to job autonomy – freedom in how they do their job – and…on the opportunity to learn new skills – the women who left scored lower than their counterparts.

This is illustrated in the career of Wendy who worked in the building industry, and who experienced dissatisfaction with working hours prior to leaving her trade, subsequently returning in a self-employed capacity which is associated with greater hours control.

Wendy, building tradesperson

Wendy was employed as a building tradesperson in 2001, working in the floor finishing, plastering or tiling area. She moved to a job as a food preparation assistant in 2002 and then moved back into her trades job in 2003. Her levels of overall job satisfaction (and most of her other satisfaction scores) were high throughout the period and barely changed (around 8). However, Wendy’s satisfaction with the hours was much lower in her trades job in 2001 (scoring 5) and this improved considerably when she moved into the non-trades job (jumping to 8). Wendy’s movement back into the trades saw her move from employee status to self-employment, no doubt a position which gave her greater control over her hours. In terms of skills usage, Wendy rated the first building trades job very poorly and experienced an improvement in both of the subsequent jobs. In terms of learning new skills, all three jobs fared poorly.

*Note: The satisfaction scale used in the HILDA survey is 0 (negative) to 10 (positive). Source: Watson 2012a: 24.


Among the whole population of tradespeople in 2006, women were more likely to work part-time than men, at all age groups (Watson 2012:16). There was a definite move to part-time work during the parenting years, but also ‘in the early 20s and 50s, outside the usual parenting period’ (Watson 2012:16).

As is the pattern in other occupational groups, tradeswomen are more likely to work part-time than tradesmen. In addition, full-time women appear to work fewer hours on average than men, another factor responsible for the gender pay gaps described above.

For example in 2011, 20 percent of tradesmen worked long hours of 45 to 55 hours/week compared to eight percent of tradeswomen.25

Retention in the trades – findings from the HILDA sample 2001 to 2010

The first point to note is that retention in trades employment is relatively low for all age groups and sexes. Around one-third of people working in the trades in 2001 were still working in the trades ten years later in 2010. This high drop-out rate explains in part the skill shortages experienced by employers. The replacement demand for tradespeople is high because of turnover, although there has been little growth in overall numbers required in the workforce.

In the HILDA sample, women were less likely to stay in a trade than men. Of those who were in a trade in 2001, women were about half as likely as men to be in a trade ten years later. Only 17 percent of the women who were tradeswomen in 2001 were in a trade in 2010 compared to 35 percent of the 2001 male cohort (Table 4).

…women in non-traditional trades were more likely to stay than those in the traditional female trades…

Within this general picture, women in non-traditional trades were more likely to stay than those in the traditional female trades. Roughly a quarter of non-traditional tradeswomen were still in a trade in 2010, working as safety inspectors, chefs and draftspeople, compared to one-seventh of traditional tradeswomen, who worked as cooks, veterinary nurse, printers and agricultural, medical and science technicians (Watson 2012a:27). As would be expected, the total numbers of men (stayers and leavers) were far greater than the total numbers of women.

25 Data is for Australia from the ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2011.


Table 4 Tradespeople in the HILDA survey sample, 2001 to 2010

2001 2010*Employed in a trade (total)Men 966 366 (38%)Women 197 33 (17%)

Employed in their non-traditional trade Men 227 70 (31%)Women 49 12 (24%)

Employed in their traditional tradeMen 739 269 (36%)Women 148 21 (14%)

*Note: Employed in a trade in 2010 includes those who left but subsequently returned to a trade.Source: Data sourced from Watson 2012a.Population: Women and men in the HILDA survey sample in 2001.


Other research on gender and trades

It hasn’t been all plain sailing, I’ve been harassed and bitten - I didn’t talk to anyone about being harassed but when I was bitten I told the boss and the guy was sacked immediately. Mostly I ignore any bad stuff… You’ve got to be as keen as the men, in fact probably keener (female apprentice, cited in Shewring 2009:20).26

Researchers have offered various explanations for women’s relative absence from non-traditional trades.27 They can be divided into four categories:

●● Workforce supply issues – the preferences of women

●● Workplace demand issues – the attitudes and behaviour of workplace participants

●● The culture of workplaces and learning environments

●● Institutional – historical or current established practices and regulation.

26 Shewring, Fiona (2009) The female tradie, challenging perceptions in non-traditional trades for women, NCVER, Australian Government.

27 The following section draws on several studies, many of which have been referenced above. In addition, it draws on Bennett, Anne (2006) ‘Doing a man-sized job: a study of women in non-traditional trades’ in TAFE Teacher, Winter 2006; and Loosemore, Martin and Galea, Natalie (2008) ‘Genderlect and conflict in the Australian construction industry’, in Construction Management and Economics Vol 26, pp 125 – 135.


Key arguments are listed below.

Workforce supply issues

●● Aspirations formed young eg. trades seen as ‘dirty’, dangerous, heavy’

●● Girls’ lack of role models

●● Boys’ greater access to family and friends associated with trades

●● The definition of ‘femininity’ girls learn in Australia

Workplace demand issues

●● Bias in employer recruitment and selection practices – eg gender stereotypes about ‘dirty, dangerous, heavy’;

●● Expectations that women will ‘waste’ training by leaving to have children

●● Concerns that girls/women won’t ‘fit in’

Culture of work and learning

●● Lack of access to information on non-traditional occupations at school

●● Harassment and discrimination of women

●● Isolation of women in male-dominated work and learning environments

●● Lack of structured support from trades staff and employers

●● Conflictual and aggressive workplaces

Institutional practices

●● Rigid and family unfriendly work hours

●● Rigid training requirements eg. past selection testing

●● Poor wage returns to trades training discouraging girls

●● Historic award and union barriers


ConclusionThe analysis presented in this paper shows that:

●● Women’s participation in trades and technical occupations has increased from 10 to 15 percent in NSW in the 25 years from 1987 to 2012.

●● This increase has mainly occurred through the inclusion and increased entry of women into the ‘non-standard trades’ including many of the skilled animal and horticultural trades, and several from the ‘other trades’ group such as science and medical technicians, ICT support technicians, and library technicians.

●● Women tradespeople receive lower incomes than men, both within each trade group and because they are concentrated in low-paying trades (such as hairdresser). Women’s inability or unwillingness to work long hours is likely to be a key reason for their lower weekly and annual income profiles.

●● Women are more likely to work part-time than male tradespeople, and to express dissatisfaction with the work-life balance available in technical and trades occupations.

●● Women’s representation in the core trades that are non-traditional for women (construction, automotive and electrical) remains tiny (less than 2 percent) and has changed little over the last 25 years.

●● NSW has the highest percentage of women commencing trades apprenticeships and traineeships, due to the high number of women in non-standard trades. Overseas-born women, especially those from parts of Asia and Eastern Europe, are more likely to work in trades and technical occupations other than women.


Appendix

Table 1A Technicians and trades worker occupations by sex, NSW and Australia, 2011

OccupationNSW Australia

Total Women %

Total Women %

Veterinary Nurses 2,231 96.3 7,738 96.6Florists 1,701 89.9 5,215 91.2Hairdressers 16,628 83.3 52,928 86.1Gallery, Library and Museum Technicians

1,423 81.9 7,094 87.2

Medical Technicians 6,727 80.4 22,117 78.4Clothing Trades Workers 2,417 76.0 6,754 79.9Animal Attendants and Trainers 3,651 59.2 12,703 61.8Science Technicians 3,377 50.6 13,722 51.1Cooks 15,376 49.8 47,308 53.3Agricultural Technicians 487 40.5 1,916 36.6Other Miscellaneous Technicians and Trades Workers

4,792 37.8 14,956 39.6

Nurserypersons 1,039 37.7 3,672 37.3Graphic Pre-press Trades Workers

1,164 37.3 3,247 37.4

Primary Products Inspectors 1,066 34.2 3,610 32.4Bakers and Pastrycooks 7,570 27.5 24,832 29.7Jewellers 1,358 27.2 3,953 30.7Performing Arts Technicians 4,016 25.5 10,169 25.3Chefs 18,712 22.7 57,615 24.3Print Finishers and Screen Printers

1,078 21.6 3,628 25.7

ICT Support Technicians 15,528 21.4 42,245 21.4Canvas and Leather Goods Makers

762 19.7 2,552 22.6

Safety Inspectors 872 19.0 3,368 18.6



Total Women %

Total Women %

Signwriters 1,649 16.1 5,614 13.3Civil Engineering Draftspersons and Technicians

2,444 13.9 10,216 13.1

Printers 4,257 11.5 12,498 11.6Upholsterers 845 9.8 2,778 9.2Architectural, Building and Surveying Technicians

13,360 9.5 49,236 9.8

Gardeners 14,326 9.1 50,551 10.9Telecommunications Technical Specialists

1,394 8.6 4,288 7.1

Mechanical Engineering Draftspersons and Technicians

1,220 8.5 4,756 6.1

Electronic Engineering Draftspersons and Technicians

1,521 7.9 4,568 7.2

Other Building and Engineering Technicians

4,208 7.6 19,639 11.2

Precision Metal Trades Workers 2,167 7.6 6,551 7.8Electrical Engineering Draftspersons and Technicians

2,291 6.4 8,340 6.8

Electronics Trades Workers 9,370 5.5 27,988 5.3Butchers and Smallgoods Makers 5,537 5.3 17,776 5.3Metal Casting, Forging and Finishing Trades Workers

700 5.0 2,605 5.0

Toolmakers and Engineering Patternmakers

1,580 3.9 5,671 3.0

Telecommunications Trades Workers

5,255 3.4 16,711 3.2

Aircraft Maintenance Engineers 5,695 2.9 14,491 2.7Painting Trades Workers 10,818 2.9 39,649 3.8Boat Builders and Shipwrights 889 2.6 3,624 1.6Wall and Floor Tilers 4,000 2.5 14,534 2.4Vehicle Body Builders and Trimmers

1,436 2.3 5,296 3.1

Cabinetmakers 4,173 2.1 21,527 2.2Shearers 1,286 2.1 3,201 2.9



Total Women %

Total Women %

Roof Tilers 2,114 1.8 6,237 1.3Vehicle Painters 2,927 1.7 9,667 2.0Glaziers 2,118 1.3 8,009 1.3Automotive Electricians 1,716 1.3 6,690 1.5Panelbeaters 4,018 1.3 11,982 1.4Electricians 32,832 1.2 110,711 1.3Motor Mechanics 24,602 1.1 81,717 1.1Plasterers 5,969 1.0 25,738 1.5Sheetmetal Trades Workers 1,914 1.0 6,511 1.0Plumbers 17,987 0.9 67,022 1.0Bricklayers and Stonemasons 6,632 0.8 24,871 1.0Carpenters and Joiners 29,031 0.7 98,252 0.7Airconditioning and Refrigeration Mechanics

5,560 0.7 17,493 0.7

Structural Steel and Welding Trades Workers

15,577 0.6 65,981 0.8

Metal Fitters and Machinists 22,652 0.6 86,967 0.7Electrical Distribution Trades Workers

2,946 0.5 8,714 0.7

Total 414,669 15.1 1,425,146 14.9 Note: Total includes the not further defined groups, although these are not shown individually.Population: Employed people aged 15 years and over in NSW and Australia.Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing 2011, data generated using TableBuilder.


Table 2A Standard trade apprentices and trainee commencements, NSW, 2011

Occupation % of total women % of total men

Hairdressers 52 1Cooks 25 7Bakers and pastrycooks 5 2Butchers & smallgoods makers

3 3

Motor mechanics 3 14

Gardeners 2 5

Electricians 1 13Florists 1 0Carpenters and joiners 1 14Shearers 1 1Percentage of standard trades counted

93 60

Population: NSW apprentices and trainees commencing in 2011Source: VOCSTATS, Apprentices and Trainees Collection


Table 3A Technical trade apprentices and trainee commencements, NSW, 2011

Occupation % of total women % of total men

Other miscellaneous technicians and trades

48 14

Medical technicians 16 1Miscellaneous technicians and trades - nfd

14 38

Animal attendants and trainers 8 3ICT support technicians 3 12Veterinary nurses 3 0Chemical, gas, petroleum and power generation plant operators

2 3

Agricultural, medical and science technicians - nfd

2 5

Other building and engineering technicians

2 15

Civil engineering draftspersons and technicians

1 4

Percentage of technical occupations counted

98 94

Note: ‘Other miscellaneous technicians and trades workers’ includes but is not limited to: divers, interior decorators, optical dispensers, optical mechanics, photographers assistants, plastics technicians and wool classers. Population: NSW apprentices and trainees commencing in 2011Source: VOCSTATS, Apprentices and Trainees Collection


Figure 1A Commencements in standard trades, women and men, NSW, 2001 to 2011

25522203

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2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

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Population: NSW apprentices and trainees commencing in 2011Source: VOCSTATS, Apprentices and Trainees Collection.

Department of Family and Community Services Women NSW

Level 3, 55 Clarence Street Sydney NSW 2000

Phone 02 9248 1840

Email [email protected] Web www.women.nsw.gov.au

3000

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