$60 Million Pledge for More Women to Enter ‘Male-Dominated Industries’

Minister for Finance, Senator Katy Gallagher at the National Press Club in Canberra, Australia on March 7, 2024. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

The Australian government has announced the launch of the Building Women’s Careers Program, inviting organisations to apply for partnership grants.

The program will receive an investment of $60.6 million aimed at increasing women’s participation in vocational education and training (VET) and the workforce.

The initiative seeks to create partnership projects that enhance women’s access to skilled and well-paid careers while addressing existing skills shortages in the economy.

It specifically targets barriers faced by women in traditionally male-dominated fields such as construction, clean energy, advanced manufacturing, and digital technology.

Senator Katy Gallagher, Minister for Women, stated that the program aims to tackle barriers to help women thrive in such sectors.

Potential projects under this program could involve several strategies.

These include modifications to workplace and training cultures that foster safe and secure environments for women, free from gender-based discrimination and harassment. Additionally, developing flexible rostering arrangements to accommodate both men and women with caregiving responsibilities is a key focus.

Support for women to gain relevant experience and VET qualifications that lead to senior or higher-paid roles is also encouraged. The program will also consider scaling up existing initiatives that have successfully increased recruitment and retention across multiple sites, either state-wide or nationally.

Partnerships Key to Program Success

Partnerships will play a crucial role in delivering these projects, involving collaboration between industry, employers, registered unions, training organisations, and community organisations.

The grants will be available for both industry-led and community-led projects, with large industry-led projects requiring a minimum of four partner organisations that collectively employ over 1,000 individuals. Community-led small-scale projects will need at least three project partners.

Minister for Skills and Training Andrew Giles said every job should be accessible to all individuals. He highlighted the program’s approach to fostering flexible, safe, and inclusive work and training practices through collective efforts from various stakeholders.

Applications for the Building Women’s Careers Program will open on Nov. 14 and will close at 5 p.m. AEDT on Dec. 2.

National Gender Pay Gap Analysis

The national gender pay gap is 11.5 percent, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in August.

It reveals that for every dollar on average men earned, women earned 89 cents. That’s $231.50 less than men each week. Over the course of a year, this difference adds up to $12,038.

Former Employment Minister Kevin Andrews, however, has a counter view.

He believes most surveys and researches on the income difference fail to explore the reasons behind workforce gender differences, such as why men and women choose different jobs or hours.

“All the report really does is compare the median earnings paid to employees of different genders,” he wrote in The Epoch Times in response to a gender pay gap report published in February.

“It does not examine the underlying reasons for the differences.

“Instead, companies are being named and shamed for a misleading assessment of their whole situation relating to men and women,” he added.