Women in Trades in 1980s Australia: Courage and Defiance

“How many female apprentices do you have?” I asked as I walked into the Plumbing Department at Box Hill TAFE.

For a moment there was stunned silence as all the men looked up from workbenches, tools suspended mid-air.

Then the whole workshop erupted into laughter.

It was 1987 and I was the newly appointed Women’s Trade and Technology Officer. Only a year earlier, the Affirmative Action (Equal Employment Opportunity for Women) Act had been passed. Women could now – finally – do anything they wanted. However, the laughter in that workshop told a different story.

Back then, there were jobs considered suitable for girls and other ones for boys. I was often told that women didn’t like heavy, hands-on, dirty work – which always made me laugh. Girls were encouraged to go into nursing, and isn’t that one of the most back-breaking, filthiest jobs ever? Besides, during World War II, women did “men’s jobs” very happily indeed.

I started running Try-a-Trade days for secondary school girls so that they could have a go at a variety of trades such as plumbing, carpentry and electrical. The aim was simple: to show girls that a career in the so-called “non-traditional” trades was an option for them … and it worked. Slowly, and increasingly, young women chose careers in these kinds of industries and managed to get apprenticeships, often with Group Training Organisations. However, this was when their battles really began.

For each young woman was walking into an all-male environment and facing a barrage of derision and hostility. They were treated as gate-crashers – unwelcome invaders into an exclusive male domain, and trouble-makers who were disturbing the status quo. Harassment was rife, and I was frequently called into workshops to sort out problems. These young women didn’t want to be trailblazers; they just wanted to be able to learn a trade and get on with the job.

I admired them enormously. These young women had never set out to challenge an entire culture. They simply wanted to work in the trades they had chosen. Yet by standing their ground in the face of discrimination, they were quietly challenging the belief that some worlds – some workplaces – were only for men.

Their courage, their determination, and the battles they fought deserved to be seen and remembered, not just as history, but as a story that could live beyond those closed doors. That story became Nikki vs Jess.

Set in the 1980s, Nikki vs Jess follows a young woman who dreams of becoming a motor mechanic – a time when many workshops might as well have had a sign on the roller door: Women Not Welcome. She faces ridicule and relentless hostility, and has to continually struggle to prove that she belongs. Every day is a test of courage and unwavering resolve – a fight that shows exactly what it takes to claim a place in a world determined to keep her out. Step into her story here: Nikki vs Jess