Although there are more women entering the trades than ever before, it has been brought to attention that still more needs to be done in order to give these women the help and encouragement they need to succeed within these male-dominated environments.

The heating industry has undergone a period of great change as the government has proposed new policies and developed new technologies such as renewables. This transitionary period has brought with it a requirement to build upon its work force by adding new and additional skills. Nowadays it should be easier than ever before for women to not only get trained for specialist roles, but a wide range of roles within the industry.

Preventing gender divides in the industry

Despite the fact that there are more women in the industry now, there are still gender divides and other stereotypes which are stopping women from catching up with men's pay. The Women and Work Commission (WWC) have claimed that the gender pay gap has actually widened to 22.6% from 21.9% in 2007.

Adult apprenticeships are a good and important way to get young women to enter this career path. The government has come up with a number of initiatives, one of them being spending over 1 billion on apprenticeships. The public reaction to this development has been mostly positive.

Despite the government putting new strategies into place in order to encourage more women to get into industry, many of the critics are still doubtful that enough is being done. For instance the WWC are still sceptical about the level of progress made and state that there is still a gender divide in the work place.

Employers taking initiative to improve things

Some of the major employers are taking important steps in challenging these gender stereotypes. For instance, a company called Construction Skills took a massive leap forward with their national advertising campaign to promote the construction industry as a attractive and lucrative career option for women.

Furthermore, British Gas have also taken action in challenging this gender stereotype. This was reflected in them trebling the number of women starting an apprenticeship in order to redress the balance.

Are women themselves not that interested?

Many of the UK construction and engineering companies have claimed that despite initiatives to encourage more women to enter the industry, job applications from women are still low. It was found that despite 80% of women saying that they would be interested in going down a non-traditional career path, the applications coming in are still low.

It has been argued that many of these gender stereotypes come from schools where enough is not being done to promote non-traditional careers for girls. There are some organisations that are set up for the purpose of encouraging these women to enter non-traditional career paths. For instance, the Women in Science & Construction (WISE) is set up to encourage young girls up to the age of 19 to pursue careers in science, engineering and construction.