Only 33 out of 10,000 State-funded apprenticeships were taken up by women last year, new figures show. The stark gender divide illustrates the scale of the task facing policy-makers seeking to increase the number of apprentices over the coming years.
Minister for Education Richard Bruton will announce new details on Thursday of plans to deliver 50,000 apprenticeships and traineeships by 2020.
Overall, the numbers taking on apprenticeships plummeted during the recession, falling from around 29,000 to just over 5,700 in 2013. They have climbed back to just over 10,000 in recent years. There are a total of 27 apprenticeships available, mostly in male-dominated areas such as construction, engineering and the motor sector.
A range of new apprenticeships are due to be launched over the coming months in areas such as financial services, medical devices and polymer processing.
A new Government plan – which draws on last year’s national skills strategy – includes annual targets to boost numbers and a 10-step path for the development of new apprenticeships.
There will also be greater collaboration between State education agencies, promotional campaigns and a review of barriers to female participation in the sector.
New figures show that of the 33 women involved in apprenticeships last year, 19 were based in the electrical sector, while seven were in construction and six were motor mechanics. One other woman was involved in a print media apprenticeship.
Niall Collins, Fianna Fáil's spokesman on jobs and enterprise, said the system was in urgent need of an overhaul to encourage more women to take up these options. Ireland lagged well behind the UK where more than half of apprenticeships were taken up by women.
Challenges
“We need to strive for that here, but it will need urgent action to tackle the challenges which currently exist.”
Policy-makers are seeking to emulate the success of many European countries which have a broader tradition of apprenticeships.
In Switzerland, for example, up to 70 per cent of 15- to 19-year-olds participate in apprenticeships. Germany also has a well developed apprenticeship system with over 300 available across a wide range of areas.
An insurance practitioner apprenticeship is one of the first of the new wave of programmes launched last September, while a new industrial engineer apprenticeship was launched last November. A total of 13 more are due to be launched over the coming months.
In a statement, Mr Bruton said the new plan would highlight the “exciting career path” available for young people taking part in apprenticeships.
He said they would give young people the opportunity to acquire applied, technical skills within a variety of sectors, and provide a practical grounding which would stand to them as they take advantage of promotional opportunities.
Mr Bruton said the plan was based on the view that in order to provide career paths for people of different types of interest and abilities, we must develop a stronger pipeline of apprenticeships and traineeships. While higher education institutions alone would supply a portion of our skills needs, there was a need for stronger alternative routes and sources of skills that a growing economy required.
