Page 719 - Week 02 - Thursday, 10 March 2011
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The ACT government is also committed to nurturing and supporting the young adults of tomorrow. We do this is through the Audrey Fagan young women’s enrichment grants program, which provides grants of up to $2,000 for young women to develop certain skills and enhance the key knowledge of their chosen career pathway. Six enrichment grants were provided in 2009 and a further seven were provided in 2010. These grants have helped young women who, without the financial assistance, would struggle to pursue their careers in areas such as photography, nursing, culture, music and sport.
These programs may seem like a drop in the ocean against an entrenched inequality; however, their value cannot be underestimated. These initiatives provide women who have limited income and limited options with the support and assistance they need to make the most of the opportunities available throughout the Canberra community and workplaces. Funding through the women’s grants program has enabled a number of community organisations to provide programs which support and develop women’s financial independence. Organisations, including the regional community services, the YWCA of Canberra, the multicultural youth centre and the Gugan Aboriginal Corporation, all offer programs which support women to initiate the first steps needed to increase financial security.
The current skill shortages across trades provide a unique and empowering opportunity for women to participate in traditionally male-dominated employment areas. The overwhelming number of males in trades is widely understood. Historically, the physical nature of the trade workplace has segregated this into one that favours males. Sadly, this has changed little, despite the introduction of technologies which remove the need for absolute physical strength and labour. Yet despite this trend, which does seem to favour men in trades and trade workplaces, women, along with our partners at CIT, are actively working to break this historic norm.
In 2010 the CIT Fyshwick Trade Skills Centre organised a girls only “try a trade day”. This event allowed high school girls to gain hands-on information about trades training in a female-positive trade environment. The response was quite overwhelming. Up to 40 attendees were expected, but more than 170 girls attended from a range of schools across the ACT and southern New South Wales.
The government supports and values the community sector, which is sustainable and viable and delivers professional services for people in need. Nationally, community service employees are predominantly female and females make up approximately 87 per cent of the community sector workforce. This trend is also reflected in the ACT community sector. Employment in the community sector in the childcare industry is also characterised by short-term positions, high mobility and predominantly part-time and casual employment.
Mr Speaker, the ACT government is the first jurisdiction in Australia to introduce a portable long service leave scheme for the ACT community sector. In doing so, the ACT government is helping to ensure the sector’s vital role in providing assistance to our most vulnerable community members. This leave scheme supports a workforce that continuously gives so much back to the Canberra community. The scheme supports community organisations to retain a skilled workforce, which in turn will create a more sustainable childcare industry and community sector in the ACT. It also
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