Women can make significant contribution in electrotechnology industry

The electrotechnology industry still has a long way to go in accepting and encouraging female workers, with women making up only 7% of the total industry workforce and 1.6% of tradespeople, according to Frances Regan, project manager for the National Electrical and Communications Association (NECA).

She said the industry needs to recognise women can play an important part in the electrical and communications industry, but are yet to be accepted as having valuable skills and abilities.

"There are issues of equality of opportunity and culture that need to be addressed before women are able to make significant inroads into this industry and yet a skills shortage exists and is predicted to only get worse," Regan said.

"More than 50% of Australia's population is female, however; with statistics on women in electrotechnology alarmingly low, it appears we are not accessing a large percentage of potential workers."

Regan said overall, women still only earn 84 c in the dollar compared to males and account for only 3% of senior management positions and 1.3% of executive positions.

"The poor representation of women in our industry occurs at a time when women are steadily making inroads into other male-dominated careers. For example, the number of women studying engineering continues to rise annually, as does the proportion of women enrolling in vocational training and education, but not in the electrotechnology trade."

Regan said issues including parenthood and responsibilities for taking children to and from school, accessibility to the family, inability to take short-term positions of responsibility because of family commitments and the desire for flexibility and part-time work were factors that impeded women's ability to work in the industry.

"We need to structure our work to enable both men and women to balance work and family and to value the skills they bring to the workplace. Child care and family responsibility should not disadvantage anyone in the workplace whether they are male or female," Regan said.

She said the challenge for the electrotechnology industry was to attract the best workers for the job, regardless of gender.

"The industry must develop training pathways that reflect the breadth and extent of the industry, and our workplaces must welcome and encourage all workers. We must also ensure strategies are in place to retain the workforce," she said.

04/10/2006