Training federation focuses on women for March and International Women's Day

The Welsh Government has tasked the NTfW with providing more apprenticeship opportunities for females in male dominated sectors and males in female dominated sectors as part of the Break the Bias campaign.

International Women's Day 2022, with has Break The Bias as its theme, celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women and calls for gender parity.

The first of the discussions, ‘Achieving Gender Balance in Apprenticeships’, will be held on March 24. Key topics will be delivering an inclusive apprenticeship programme informed by data, increasing participation and support from employers, learning from apprentices and breaking the bias with employers, learning providers, peers and family.

Inspirational women speakers include former apprentice Charlie Hargreaves of Wates Construction and Catrin Atkins, co-founder of Women in Tech Cymru who will share valuable insights on their routes into construction and technology industries.

The other round table discussions will be "Increasing participation of disabled people in apprenticeships" on March 28 and "Increasing participation of ethnic minority communities in apprenticeships" on March 30.

The discussions, which are for invitees only, are being organised by Humie Webbe, the NTfW’s organisation’s strategic equality and diversity lead, who may be contacted at humie.webbe@ntfw.org .

“International Women’s Day provides an opportunity to recognise female apprentices and celebrate their achievements,” said Humie. “This year’s theme #BreaktheBias spotlights the need for targeted support to enable females to succeed in their chosen careers, in particular in male-dominated industries such as construction and engineering.

“As we strive to address the gender imbalance in construction and engineering apprenticeship sectors, where there is under-representation of females, we want to work with employers to highlight their good practice and to encourage women and young girls to enter the industry.

“Changing people’s perception, attitudes and behaviour is a long-term investment. Having targeted discussions is a good way of looking at what is needed for females and males to enter into areas where they are not represented.”

One of those being highlighted by the project is Catherine Watkin, finance officer at Welshpool-based Cambrian Training Company, who is a key member of staff, supporting the finance director and being a point of contact for Welsh language queries within the company.

Since joining the company on the Jobs Growth Wales programme 10 years ago, she has achieved five apprenticeships, most recently Customer Service and Management at Level 3.

“I am so proud of what I have achieved at Cambrian Training, none of which would have been possible without the start I was given through Jobs Growth Wales,” said Cath. “I have been supported by the company to continue learning via a range of apprenticeships.

“Ten years really have flown by and I am looking forward to what the next 10 years brings. The company has evolved over my time and I am proud to be a part of the forever changing and growing company.”