There’s a growing band of enthusiastic women who are ‘pulling on the boots’, mixing it with the guys and training to become tradeswomen across traditionally male dominated industries like automotive, building and electrical.

What’s more they want to encourage other women to train for a trade as well.

This is no bad thing with a shortage of skills now in several industries.

Fiona Lawrie, a third year apprentice automotive technician at Box Hill Institute not only loves cars, she’s also inspired about the opportunity for women to start a trade apprenticeship.

In fact, Fiona has initiated a campaign called Fanelle because she wants to help create a broader awareness about women in trades and provide a support network to assist female apprentices through their trade careers.

When the Channel Nine Today show learned of Fiona’s story, they visited Box Hill to film a segment on her and two other female apprentices – one in carpentry, the other in electrical – who are studying at the institute. The segment aired recently on TV.

Box Hill Institute, like Fiona, believes people should re-think the stereotype and introduce more women into the workshop and the worksite. The institute works closely with industry and apprenticeship services and is open and supportive towards enrolling female apprentices.

Brad Wright, Program Manager Automotive at Box Hill, says he finds when a woman applies for a trade course they’ve usually put more thought into their career choice and make good apprentices.

“Once they’ve decided to go for it, they like taking up the challenge!” Brad says.

Fiona says her experience has been a very positive one and she wants to encourage women of all ages to join her in taking up a career she considers life changing. Follow her campaign at https://www.facebook.com/SupportFanelle and http://fanelle.com.au