True Pro Ladies 2024 – celebrating 5 years of our female empowerment campaign

Even in our current day and age, the number of women in the building trade 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.

5 years of our female empowerment campaign

For many years now, STABILA has been committed 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 challenges and 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.

This year we're proud to be celebrating the fifth anniversary of our female empowerment campaign. As a result, this year's official True Pro Ladies Team is also the largest so far, with no less than 34 female professionals from Germany, Austria, the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea.

global community for current and future female tradespeople

„I feel like there is a stigma around women on a building site that needs to be addressed and the only way to do that is with campaigns like #trueproladies showing the world that we can do just as much as the men. Hopefully we can reach the next generation and normalize women in hard hats and that won’t even be a topic of conversation.“

(Kornelia @shes_electricx)

In this anniversary year we've had the pleasure of welcoming international True Pro Ladies to our Annweiler headquarters on two occasions to show them around the factory and our campus. At the start of the year we were excited to welcome Ahjin (@jj_girl_) from South Korea, who spent a busy two days with us.

Kornelia (@shes_electricx) from the UK

Just a few weeks later we played host to Kornelia (@shes_electricx) from the UK. Both visits included a factory tour and product training, as well as opportunities for content creation and networking. "The opportunity to see the complete production process for the spirit levels was an experience I'll never forget. After seeing the attention to detail and the level of expertise that go into making these spirit levels, I'll never look at them in the same way again. You can really see and understand why STABILA spirit levels are regarded as the best," said Kornelia after her tour of the factory.

Another new feature of the campaign was a trip to meet Jessica (@buntezukunft) at work near Frankfurt, Germany. Jessica has been a True Pro Lady since day 1 of the campaign, and many years ago was our first female empowerment partner in the building sector. "We've grown and developed together over the past five years since I finished my apprenticeship, and every year I meet inspiring new women through the True Pro Ladies campaign," says Jessica. Reflecting on the campaign and the general trend in women working in trades professions, she adds: "It's brilliant that a major brand like STABILA is creating an opportunity to showcase women in this way. We might not be the most visible ones in the industry, but now we have a platform where we can be seen. Not even necessarily with the things we do on a day-to-day basis, but simply the fact that we exist: whether as bricklayers, electricians, plasterers, carpenters, or painters like me."

#trueproladies

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 last five years, we have already managed to reach millions of young tradespeople – female and male – 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.

True Pro Ladies campaign

Over the next five years, we are looking forward to working with our community 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!