No longer 'ducks on the pond': promoting women's inclusion and safety in construction trades training through gender transformative pedagogy
Authors:
Brett Woods
Victoria University
Theme: Access & Equity
Presentation:
Gender inequality in construction trades is widely acknowledged and reported. Key issues include a heavily masculine culture and an ‘outsider’ discourse around women, alongside lack of reporting and consequences for inappropriate behaviour. Recent Australian studies showed that up to 80 per cent of women in construction have experienced inappropriate behaviour in the workplace, and 19 per cent from students or teachers in their educational institutions. Gender inequality is evident in the construction trades ecosystem, including being deeply embedded in construction vocational learning settings. Negative outcomes include high attrition rates for women apprentices. In response, the National Skills Agreement has identified gender equality as a key national priority and identified women as a priority group.
This paper presents findings from the first phase of an action research project examining the experiences of gender in male dominated construction industry apprenticeship training in TAFE. The study was undertaken with men, women and non-binary TAFE students, teachers and training managers. Data was collected through focus groups and interviews with 35 number of participants across various traditional trade areas (eg carpentry, plumbing, electrical, brick laying, electro engineering and sign writing) in one city based Australian TAFE College. The analysis interrogated the social norms, culture and traditional constructions of masculinity and femininity for women apprentices in construction trades. The first phase findings of the action research project will inform the second phase Freirean ‘culture circle’ reflection loop, with the aim of raising awareness and knowledge to inform actions to address issues raised by participants. This paper will foreshadow this second phase, focusing on the potential for this model to upskill VET practitioners and explore how gender transformative pedagogies could be embedded in teaching and learning practices in TAFE settings to promote cultural change to attract, recruit and retain women in construction trades.