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Inequality regimes in male-dominated trades: What role do apprenticeship intermediaries (GTOs) play?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

Larissa Bamberry ,
Donna Bridges ,
Elizabeth Wulff  and
Branka Krivokapic-Skoko
Larissa Bamberry*
Affiliation:
Charles Sturt University, Australia
Donna Bridges
Affiliation:
Charles Sturt University, Australia
Elizabeth Wulff
Affiliation:
Charles Sturt University, Australia
Branka Krivokapic-Skoko
Affiliation:
Charles Sturt University, Australia
*
Larissa Bamberry, School of Business, Charles Sturt University, Elizabeth Mitchell Drive, Thurgoona, NSW 2640, Australia. Email: lbamberry@csu.edu.au
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Abstract

In Australia and internationally, women continue to be underrepresented in male-dominated trade occupations. A notable barrier is the apprenticeship system, which requires women to overcome obstacles in employment and training. Government and industry stakeholders have encouraged women’s apprenticeships in male-dominated trades through the development of Group Training Organisations’ (GTOs) that operate as intermediaries between apprentices and employers. Extending Acker’s model of workplace inequality regimes, we argue that inequality regimes operate between organisations at an industry-wide level. We ask ‘Do GTOs operate to produce and reproduce workplace and industry-wide inequality regimes? Or can they facilitate improved gender diversity in male-dominated trades?’ Drawing on a recent study of regional tradeswomen’s employment, we find that although GTOs have an important role in facilitating gender diversity, they have inconsistent results in challenging existing inequality regimes. There is a risk that they may become a vector of transmission for workplace inequality regimes to the broader industry.

Keywords

R23J71I24Apprenticeshipsgendermale-dominated industriessexual harassmentworkplace inequality regimes
Type
Gender and work
Information
The Economic and Labour Relations Review , Volume 33 , Issue 3 , September 2022 , pp. 547 - 565
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2022

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