CHANGES IN FEMALE ENTRY TO TRADE TRAINING IN SOUTH-AUSTRALIA

This study examines whether there were significant changes in the entr y of young women to trade training in South Australia as a result of e qual opportunities policies and initiatives to change the means of ent ry to trade training. It surveys the period 1981 to 1984 because that, like the present, was a period of change in education and training ar rangements. It looks at women's hold on places in pre-vocational cours es and apprenticeships in the most male-dominated trade areas and exam ines in detail the outcomes of the first three Introduction to Trades for Young Women courses in 1982 and 1983. It concludes that they led t o only a slight improvement in female participation in trade training. The difficulties these courses faced in articulating with both studen t income support policies and the selection procedures for pre-vocatio nal courses are discussed. The study demonstrates a marginal increase in the numbers of female apprentices outside hairdressing between 1981 and 1984 and evidence of weak commitment to an effective equal opport unities policy. A brief comparison is made between the situation at th e beginning and end of the decade. This suggests that female participa tion in the most male-dominated trades areas in South Australia was ge nerally lower than the Australian average in those areas, an outcome w hich must open to question the policy commitment to change.