Tradeswomen Australia Community Foundation

Building Career Pathways in the Trades for Women at Risk  

Tradeswomen Australia Group – Tradeswomen Australia (TWA) and Tradeswomen Australia Community Foundation (TWACF) today announced the Wyndham Pathways Project aimed at assisting women obtain access to well-paid employment in the trades area.  

The project will focus on women in vulnerable and at-risk demographics, including but not limited to, newly arrived women, women from lower-income households, and women recovering from trauma.

Chair of Tradeswomen Australia Community Foundation, Janet Cribbes said “Participation of women as apprentices/trainees in the non-traditional trades, especially the core trades of construction, automotive and electrical, has remained at less than 2% and has changed little over the last 25 years.  

Ms Cribbes said through the Wyndham Pathways Project, with the combined resources and connections of Tradeswomen Australia (TWA) and Tradeswomen Australia Community Foundation (TWACF), we are encouraging women to enter the trades with information, connections, support and the power of social and economic inclusion. 

“As Australia works through the economic turmoil of the pandemic, there is an increasing danger that the poverty gap will widen substantially, and the Wyndham Pathways Project in its approach could be the catalyst for a wider movement of such programs to assist women. 

“The Wyndham Pathways Project welcomes women of all backgrounds, and we have a particular focus on supporting indigenous women, women refugees and asylum-seekers, culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and women with a disability.”

Ms Cribbes announced that TWACF has appointed Ms Katie Yates, a highly experienced and successful manager of major social and economic inclusion campaigns for the Lord Mayor’s Appeal in London as the TWACF Community Project Manager to head the Wyndham Pathways Project. Ms Yates moved from London to Melbourne in November 2020 after completing her Masters degree in Human Rights at the London School of Economics and Political Science. 

Ms Yates said, “through a series of co-ordinated workshops participants will gain access to trades businesses and develop skills confidence and connections including: 
 
• Seeing a variety of roles within the trades industry and the women that occupy them
• Gaining increased knowledge of the different roles available to them.
• Develop supportive relationships with their peers and mentors.
• Finish the programme with increased confidence in their abilities.
 
“By the end of the programme, participants will have increased confidence to pursue a career within the trades industry and will have secured jobs or further training to begin carving their own pathway into their chosen trade,” Ms Yates said. 
 
CLICK HERE to register to attend the Information Session | 'Building Futures: Pathways to Trade' with TWACF Thursday 25 February at 6.00pm. 
 
This will be hosted on Zoom and will be recorded and is an opportunity for prospective participants to learn more about the programme and its benefits. 
 
The Tradeswomen Australia Group Wyndham Pathways Project is supported by the City of Wyndham, Lord Mayor’s Charitable Fund and Victoria University. 

https://www.twacf.org/about-twacf