Twenty year 8 pupils from Llanidloes High School, Ysgol Bro Ddyfi and Newtown High School attended the Girls Behaving Constructively event at Coleg Powys’ Newtown site on Monday (22 March).
Mid and West Wales AM Joyce Watson, who last year set up the online forum, Women in Construction, was a special guest.
The day was organised by Construction Skills and comprised ‘hands on’ carpentry and brickwork sessions, run by Coleg Powys lecturers George Stewart and Dennis Buttery, and an opportunity to meet women working in the industry, including Emma Bull from Willmott Dixon and Victoria Everson from local contractor SJ Roberts.
Joyce, who praised the event in questions to the First Minister on Tuesday (23 March), said:
"It is important that people working in the construction industry demonstrate to young female students the wide variety of career opportunities available to them within the industry.
"At the moment, the proportion of women working in construction is just 1 per cent, but events like this show girls that there's no reason why they shouldn’t pursue these careers."
Modern Apprenticeship officer for Construction Skills, Clare Ward, added:
"The success of this event has been proven with the positive feedback that we have had from these students and hopefully we will see some of them working within the industry in the future."
In response to Joyce’s question in the Senedd, the First Minister said the Government was working closely with the sector skills councils to address gender-related issues and apprenticeship training:
"As we look to ride the economic upturn, it is important that we provide opportunities for all people to develop skills. We are a small country, so we cannot afford to neglect anyone in terms of upskilling for the future."
For more information about Women in Construction click on http://www.womeninconstruction.co.uk/
To contact Joyce Watson AM click on www.joycewatson.co.uk.
Caption (left to right): Joyce Watson and Emma Bull with girls from Llanidloes High School
Caption (left to right): Joyce Watson with girls from Llanidloes High School, Ysgol Bro Ddyfi and Newtown High School
