Less than 1% of apprentices on state schemes in Ireland are women
The government is facing sharp criticism after figures released by Solas revealed that only 52 of the 9,587 state apprenticeships so far this year are occupied by women.
The further education and training authority also released a breakdown of apprenticeships by sector. Of the 2,093 existing apprentices in the construction sector, only seven are female. In the electrical sector, 17 of the 3,699 are women while five of the 2,192 motoring sector and two of the 21 in the printing sector apprentices are female. Furthermore, there are no women at all of the 1,528 in the engineering sector.
Overall, this constitutes less than 1% of female representation across the apprenticeship sector. The data was released following a parliamentary question to Minister for Education Richard Bruton TD.
These figures led to sharp criticisms of the Government by Fianna Fail Jobs and Enterprise spokesperson Niall Collins TD. He commented: “There’s no two ways about it: the system as currently constituted clearly disadvantages women.
“Ireland is falling behind when it comes to engaging women via apprenticeships. Take England for example. Since 2010/11, more women than men have started apprenticeships; […] 53% of starters in 2014/15 were women.”
Women were most highly represented in the newest apprenticeship sector, financial services, which was introduced only this year, with 21 participants. However, they still find themselves outnumbered with 33 men also serving apprenticeships in the sector.
