„Construction life.
A little bit of this a little bit of that.
I couldn’t have imagined how much fun it would be.“
Celeste (@brickdaddyto)
True Pro Ladies 2021 –
STABILA supports women in the building sector
Even in our current day and age, the number of women in the building sector worldwide is still extremely low. But with the industry facing an acute shortage of tradespeople, the opportunities to break into a career in this area are better today than they ever have been. With the True Pro Ladies campaign, STABILA has been establishing a global community dedicated to female tradespeople since 2020, highlighting women who have forged successful careers in trade sectors and promoting a new generation of up-and-coming female talent in the industry.
For more than 130 years now, STABILA has been dedicating itself to supporting young talent in the trade industry. As the world faces an acute and increasingly prominent shortage of young tradespeople, this is a mission that has become more important than ever. In trade professions, women are mostly the dominant force in areas such as hairdressing, tailoring, jewellery-making and baking and, while their numbers are certainly growing in sectors with a more industrial slant, they continue to be under-represented in these areas. Not only that, but female tradespeople in the construction industry are still failing to receive the recognition and appreciation they so richly deserve.
These are the exact issues that we are seeking to tackle with the True Pro Ladies campaign. In 2020, we established a global community for current and future female tradespeople with the long-term goal of making trades more appealing to women.
The campaign is entering its second year. Another official True Pro Ladies team has been established in 2021, consisting of 18 female tradespeople from Germany, Austria, England, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
This year, we have even taken the campaign to Asia with Yukie (@nanairodenkitsushin) on board. Yukie is a professional electrician in Kyoto, Japan. For 16 years, she has been standing up for women in the Japanese trade industry and she now provides our community with an insight into the everyday life of a Japanese female electrician.
Jessica (@buntezukunft) from Germany is also part of the team. Jessica is taking part in the campaign for the second time. For many years, she has been part of the German national team of painters and even took part in World Skills 2019 in Kazan. Her social media activity talks about the training opportunities that are available in the trade industry and what it is like to work in a family-run company.
Celeste (@brickdaddyto) is right at the beginning of her career. She is currently in the second year of her bricklaying apprenticeship. The young Canadian shares her experiences, successes and challenges with her community every day. She wants to inspire more young girls and boys to become tradespeople and to motivate them to start an apprenticeship in a trade profession.
Then, there is Rachael from England (@thegingermason). Rachael is a stonemason apprentice at the magnificent Lincoln Cathedral, where she restores steeples and masonry that are centuries old. In her entertaining way, she shows how interesting and modern an apprenticeship in something like stonemasonry can be, a job that may be considered old fashioned at first glance.
In addition to the official True Pro Ladies team members, female tradespeople and young women with an interest in trade professions from around the world are able to engage in the campaign by sharing their thoughts using the #trueproladies hashtag and becoming part of a community that provides a mutual source of inspiration and motivation.
Over the course of two years, we have already managed to reach millions of young female and male tradespeople through our campaign activities on our marketing channels (website, social media and press). The feedback we have received from women and men alike has been overwhelmingly positive, reinforcing just how important it is to engage with this kind of issue facing society.
Over the years ahead, we are looking forward to working more with our community in order to promote the True Pro Ladies campaign and keep pursuing our goals and ambitions to support young talent in the trade industry. Our ultimate hope is to inspire lots of young people to explore a career in a trade profession!
