Dozens of teenagers gathered at the Train4TradeSkills stand at the Government-supported Women into Construction event in Bedford to learn about plumbing and electrician opportunities as Britain started back to work after the worst recession in 40 years.
And as work on London’s Olympic Park gets underway with hundreds of new job pledges, the Government is leading the call for more young women to get their hands dirty. Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell said recently: “The London 2012 Women into Construction project is an excellent example of how we are using the Games to blaze a trail for equal employment opportunities. This programme will help more women get construction jobs.”
Women into Construction, funded by the London Development Agency, is determined to find work for at least 50 women a year.
Myra Smallman, headteacher at Train4TradeSkills a training college in Collingden Street, Luton, said: “It’s a fallacy that women aren’t capable of coping in the macho world of construction. Now it finally looks as if Britain is getting back on its feet, people are wanting to start building again. New projects are popping up all over Luton and Bedfordshire.
“The Olympic Stadium Park is particularly exciting and there will be a lot of jobs up for grabs – and my company wants young women to have the skills to jump on board and get an equal share of the opportunities.
“It was fabulous to see all these young people gathered at the stand and wanting to know how they could begin to build for the future.”
Emily Hale, aged 19, from Milton Keynes, who is studying to be a bricklayer at the local college, said: “So many young women want to join the building industry nowadays –it’s a fascinating and important world.”
And Michelle Davidson hopes her Train4Tradeskills course will help her ‘save’ the world. Michelle, aged 31, who is doing her practical training in a specially designed unit at the college’s Luton offices, wants to be an eco-plumber. “I believe in protecting the world and my course is helping me focus on that aspect of being a plumber. Doing something good for the world is what motivates me and my tutors are right behind me.”
