Photo contribution by Madeleine Kuss: Future – Women in Crafts – Participant in the HWK PHOTO.AWARD. (Photo: © M. Kuss)
Read aloud:
women in crafts - Theme specials
May 2023
A career in the skilled trades and their organization isn't a question of gender. However, to truly increase the proportion of women, structures and mindsets must change, both in society and in the economy—and in general.
Actually, it sounds really good. Women make up almost half of the workforce, are highly qualified and work increasingly in areas with a high proportion of men. If self-employed they create new products and services, but also Work and Apprenticeships: Self-employed women employ in Germany 3,4 million people and form around 100.000 young people .
This is what it sounds like on the website of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energybefore the decisive sentence is spoken: "However, there is still a lot of room for improvement." Two facts in particular make this clear. Despite an almost identical employment rate, Women only hold 29 percent of all management positionsAnd of the 3,8 million small and medium-sized enterprises, only 16 percent a woman at the top.
"The training and labor market are still divided along gender lines," says Holger Schwannecke, Secretary General some Central Association of German Skilled Crafts (ZDH)"Unfortunately, that is the case, especially in the craft sector." Because in the craft sector, the Only one in five businesses is run by women - and only one in five master craftsman examinations is taken by a woman.
In 2022, the proportion of women in master craftsman examinations was 17,9 percent. "Without the female-typical trades, the quota in the skilled trades would be even lower," commented Anja Obermann, Managing Director is Chamber of Crafts Rheinhessen, the figures.
Operations management
Operations management
Operations management
The head of the Chamber of Crafts is also an exception in the craft sector – because the The quota for women within the craft trades organization looks similarly bleakObermann is only one of two female managing directors—and that's among 53 chambers of crafts and trades. On the volunteer side, there are at least three female presidents, compared to 50 male ones.
On Trade association website sees it only because a little better because the female-typical trades for a better quota – a reflection of the gender distribution in the trades.
Anyone who wants to change this must apply the lever in many places simultaneously – and have a long-term perspective. "In order for women to be able to fully utilize their potential in business and working life, a variety of approaches are required," states the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. "Among other things, the framework conditions must be adapted to Compatibility of work and family/caree, the Awareness of partnership responsibility and thus the economic independence of women to strengthen.«
Behind this are insights that are anything but new – and in which women had to struggle hard to achieve every step, because established patterns of thought were difficult to break in the male-dominated economy and politics. History proves this. Only in the In the 1960s, women fought their way out of the clear division of roles – the man goes to work, the woman stays at home and takes care of the household and children.
The so-called Hamburg Agreement of 1964 ensured the standardization of school systems among the federal states and enabled wider groups of people to have access to school education. This increased equal opportunities for girls and helped to break out of the "housewife" role. From the 1970s Women promptly began to participate more in working life, later achievements such as the Maternity Protection or parental leave made it possible to distribute childcare tasks.
However, complete equality is still not achieved, especially when it comes to the issue of Work-life balance Many women not only have to fight against clichés, but are simply not insuredThe reason: The legal regulations apply to employees, not but for the self-employedThe ZDH has a clear stance on this: "Pregnancy must not be a business risk," the association states, and calls for effective and well-thought-out protection during pregnancy and after birth for self-employed women.
Our preview of Johanna Röhto Master carpenter from Alfhausen near Osnabrück, the demand has been given a face. With a Petition has brought movement to this issue. But because several ministries are working on it will take some time to implement – even if politics fundamentally Maternity protection trap for the self-employed has been identifiedThis is because employees receive continued pay in the event of pregnancy, which female bosses do not receive – and which can be particularly threatening for small businesses.
We also know that the many initiatives and networks of womenn, especially the Women entrepreneurs in the skilled trades, UFH for short. From the old understanding of roles Many wives automatically worked in the companies, but often without contract and social securityWith their lobbying work, the UFH contributed significantly to giving up the status of an often disrespectful "helping" partner and to Path to independence on equal terms with your partner. An important step, because more than 75 percent of all craft businesses are Family business, headed by a married couple or a partnership.
However, all changes to the framework conditions cannot avoid one thing: Young women in particular need to come into contact with the craft, try out what suits them and learn about career opportunities. Numerous initiatives and campaigns, including the Girl's day, MINT initiatives or the Cliché-Free Initiative The Klischeefrei initiative strives to ensure that young women, in particular, make their career choices free from prejudice. The idea behind it is to counteract the shortage of skilled workers by eliminating gender-specific career choices.
This does indeed seem to be slowly but surely having an impact, even though the pandemic has dealt a setback to all these efforts. The proportion of female apprentices was 19,2 percent before the pandemic in 2018to continuously currently falling back 16,7 percent. However, it is statistically unmistakable: The Proportions of women in traditional male domains are increasingDigitalization, of all things, is helping them gain a better foothold there. This confirms Tatjana Lanvermann, chairman of the Federal Association of UFH (Federal Association of UFHs) and herself works in the heating and plumbing industry. Processing orders in her trade, as well as in the construction and finishing trades generally, via tablet is more suited to the creative skills of young women. In many companies, machines such as construction robots are taking on physically demanding work for employees, thus relieving women of the burden. Lanvermann: "This also helps to break down traditional gender stereotypes based on the motto 'You can't do that.'"
What's more, this helps to reduce prejudices against certain jobs in general. The crux of the matter is that these Message must reach society in general, which not only with outdated role models, but also works with an outdated and partly false image of craftsmanship in their head.
In order to inspire even more young women to take up the trades and to raise awareness among companies, to focus more on women in the search for skilled workers, has the Dortmund Chamber of Crafts the campaign "Strong women. Strong craftsmanship." launched. The campaign aims Convince women and girls of the good career opportunities in the skilled trades and show real craftswomen as role modelsand network. The campaign portrays successful journeymen, master craftsmen, and entrepreneurs from the Chamber district. "Crafts are colorful and diverse and thrive on the diversity of their employees. That's why we need even more women in companies, management levels and Self-administration of the craft sectorwho want to set new impulses and help shape things," says Chamber Vice President Kerstin Feix.
A Component of the campaign was a Photo competition, which was intended to increase the visibility of women in skilled trades. Professional, young and amateur photographers from all over Germany were invited to submit photographic works that Putting women in the craft sector at the centreThe aesthetic photos, which can be seen in the foyer of the Chamber of Crafts' training center, are intended to encourage young women to abandon gender stereotypes and follow this or a similar path.
The statistics with the The proportion of women in the trades is clear: Especially in the area of Many professions in the construction and finishing trades are male-dominatedFor example, among bricklayers and concrete workers, the proportion of women in training in 2022 was just 2,1 percent: Of the 9.261 apprentices, only 198 are femaleThe rate is even worse for Master's examinations from: Just 5 women were among the 642 successful master examinees to be found, a share of less than one percent.
Admittedly, the reverse is true, because some, especially creative or care-related professions have an above-average proportion of womenBut that doesn’t change the overall picture, Craftsmanship is masculine. Calculated across all apprenticeships in the skilled trades, the Women a rate of only 16,7 percentThe proportion of women taking master craftsman examinations is also at a similar level: Only 17,9 percent of all 20.532 successful master craftsman examinations are held by women.
DHB now also digital!Simply click here and register for the digital DHB!
Newsletter
Write a comment