Polytechnic Campaigns for More Women in Trades

4 November 2011

Polytechnic Campaigns for More Women in Trades

In a bid to encourage more women into prosperous trades and technical careers, Otago Polytechnic is launching a campaign to celebrate women who work in the trades and to emphasise that they offer promising careers for women as well as for men.

Otago Polytechnic Chief Executive, Phil Ker, says there is an increasing imperative nationally to train more tradespeople. “There is a significant and long-standing skills shortage in New Zealand which is of obvious concern. And compounding that situation, the country must soon focus on rebuilding Christchurch after the tragic earthquakes there. It is vitally important we make concerted efforts to increase the number of people choosing to enter the trades, and that includes women.”

As part of its campaign, the Polytechnic has organised a Women in Trades Expo on campus on Thursday 24 November. This expo will give women the opportunity to try out a trade, see demonstrations of different tools and techniques, listen to speeches by successful tradeswomen and chat with lecturers and programme managers about career and study options.

To promote the campaign, Otago Polytechnic has teamed up with More FM to run a public competition centred around the idea of a Dream Room – a female equivalent of the ‘man cave’. Otago Polytechnic students will design the structure and then the radio station will call for listeners to send in their designs for the interior. The winning design will be built by tradeswomen in Queen’s Gardens on Wednesday 23 November. Placemakers is donating the materials for the build, and the winner of the design competition wins a $500 Beaute Pamper Pack.

“There are increasing numbers of women who have studied a trade and gone on to have successful, well-paid and rewarding careers as a result. We want to highlight this fact and encourage other women to follow suit,” says Phil Ker.

Otago Polytechnic offers a wide range of trades and technical programmes: Carpentry, Construction, Construction Management, Quantity Surveying, Architectural Draughting, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Automotive Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Stonemasonry.

Women in Trades Expo
Thursday 24 November
4pm – 8pm (speeches start at 6pm)
Otago Polytechnic, L Block
Anzac Avenue, Dunedin.

‘Dream Room’ Build
Wednesday 23 November
Queen’s Gardens, Dunedin.

ENDS