Women in the trades: Happy and successful

Women are still a minority on construction sites and in workshops. On International Women's Day, the skilled trades are calling for more courage in choosing careers. Glazier Cecile Höllmüller and master brewer Doreen Gaumann have found their dream jobs.

This article is part of the special feature on women in the trades.

On construction sites, glazier Cecile Höllmüller is often the only woman. "It would be nice if that were different. Because with more women, a construction site can run differently, since women often have different approaches to solutions than men," she says.

On International Women's Day, the young craftswoman, together with the Central Association of German Crafts (ZDH), calls on girls and women to show more courage.

It is important that "young women are not afraid to consider a 'male' skilled trade and do not rule it out altogether. Otherwise, they could miss out on their dream job," explains Cecile Höllmüller.

For her, the male dominance in her trade wasn't a reason to abandon her career choice. "It was never a problem for my colleagues that I was a woman. At most, the occasional customer would ask: Oh, can she do that?" says Höllmüller.

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And how she can do it: Cecile Höllmüller is Germany's best young glazier. In 2020, she completed her apprenticeship at the Späth glassworks in Hauzenberg (Passau district) as the best journeyman in Germany.

Succession is female. They are innovative, successful, future-oriented: As entrepreneurs and managers, women in the skilled trades are on the rise, even outside of traditionally female professions. Some of them tell their stories here.

Creative professions still dominate  

For a long time, skilled trades were largely considered a male domain. Today, women make up 18,3 percent of apprentices, reports the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH) on the occasion of International Women's Day. However, it is still primarily creative trades that are chosen by women.

• The cosmetics industry is therefore almost entirely in female hands, with 99,2 percent of women making up the workforce.
• Followed by tailoring (84 percent) and
• Confectionery (80,4 percent),
• the gold and silversmiths (76,6 percent) and
• Hairdressers with 74,7 percent.

The picture is quite different in the industrial and technical professions .

• For bricklayers and concrete workers (1,1 percent),
• information technology specialists (1,9 percent) and
• Women are rare among plumbers (2,1 percent).

Several skilled trades and technical professions have significantly increased their proportion of women in recent years. For example, in the bicycle mechanic trade, 61 more women were trained in 2019 than in 2017, an increase of 2,3 percentage points to 9,2 percent.

Among carpenters, there were 213 more female apprentices than in 2017 – an increase of 0,8 percent to 13,1 percent. The German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH) stated that these examples demonstrate that it is possible to attract more women to these professions.

"There is great potential in greater diversity among the workforce"

ZDH President Hans Peter Wollseifer Photo: © ZDH/Schuering

President of the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts, Hans Peter Wollseifer, wants to encourage women to choose careers beyond stereotypes . "The skilled crafts organization is also working towards this goal, with an image campaign , participation in Girls' Day , and extensive regional engagement ."

Attracting women to industrial and technical careers is not only important with a view to securing skilled workers. "Greater diversity in the workforce holds great potential for our companies," explains Wollseifer.

"You grow with every situation"

Photo: © Doreen Gaumann

Brewmaster Doreen Gaumann has an explanation for why so few women dare to take the step into a commercial-technical profession: "Many women worry that they will not be recognized, that they will not be respected, or that they will not be able to handle the physical demands of the job," explains the 29-year-old.

"In the end, it all comes down to what you make of it. You grow with every situation and every experience you have."

She completed her training as a brewer and maltster immediately after graduating from high school. In 2015, she completed her master brewer's training and has since worked as a brewmaster at the Union Brewery in Bremen.

High satisfaction levels among women in the skilled trades

Women who consciously choose a skilled trade not only have excellent career prospects, but are also often happy and fulfilled with their career choice . This is according to the study "Craftsman Pride" by Dr. Ann-Kathrin Blankenberg from the University of Göttingen. 2.000 skilled tradespeople were surveyed for the study.

Women in the study expressed particularly high levels of satisfaction with their profession. 86,6 percent of the women surveyed said their skilled trades profession makes them feel good (the average for all respondents is 78,2 percent). 86,8 percent of the female skilled tradesmen surveyed considered their profession their passion (average: 83,3 percent).

Many women in the skilled trades are setting ambitious career goals. One in five skilled trades businesses is now run by a woman. 3.436 female graduates successfully passed the master craftsman examination in 2019. 

Source: ZDH
About the image campaign Since 2010, the German craft sector has been conducting a nationwide Image campaign The campaign is known for its large billboards, TV commercials, and social media activities. The campaign aims to raise public awareness of the importance of skilled trades and inspire young people to pursue training in one of over 130 skilled trades. Young women will also be specifically targeted.