EWIT News
10th May, 2024
After an incredible week at Sydney Build 2024, the team were back in Melbourne for the Trades & Tech Fit Career Expo attended by over 2000 female students. We jet set off to Brisbane next week for the Future of Construction Conference (FCon) and to top it all off, we have launched our new Alliance membership and we can’t wait to tell you all more!
Sydney Build 2024
Sydney you really turned out for Sydney Build 24 with thousands of people visiting the EWIT stand over the two days of the event. We went home with sore legs, raspy voices but incredibly full hearts. We had such an incredible response from the attendees and the other exhibitors who came by to express their support for women in trade and to find out more about what we do. #30by30
They also came by to meet our booth partners the Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA) who were raising awareness of the Pink Tradie Campaign and showing off some of their eye-catching socks, cups and fundraising merchandise which will be available in July. Our team rocked the iconic pink Steel Blue boots during the event which were an incredibly popular talking point allowing us to shine a light on the What a Pair campaign running through the month of May. Thanks to Steel Blue for providing us with a pair to giveaway during the event (winner announced in this newsletter!)
EWIT wasn’t just hosting a stand though, we also participated in several of the conference sessions throughout the two days. EWIT CEO, Hacia Atherton spoke on building well-being in construction and our COO, Mel Davis, shared her insights into supporting career development and attracting and retaining talent and connecting women in trades in two separate panel discussions. We were grateful for the opportunity to include our incredible village members Kone, Construction Specialities Australia and Carpentry Australia to share the incredible stories from their organisations of the work they are doing to support more diversity in construction. #beagoodhuman
We were thrilled with the outcomes and the attendance of so many women and organisations supporting their development at this year’s events. Our heartfelt thanks go out to everyone who stopped by the EWIT stand to say hello and show their support and to the Sydney Build organisers for putting together another incredible event. See you in 2025 Sydney Build!
The EWIT stand was also visited by the Victorian Minister for Education, The Hon. Ben Carroll who took his turn on the tools.
TradesFit Expo- Melbourne
The EWIT team pulled off not one but two incredible stands at this year’s Trades & Tech Fit Careers Expo this week as we continue to support to build a pipeline of future tradies and create opportunities for female and non-binary school students to get hands on and get involved. Trades & Tech Fit Expo is funded by the Victorian Government Department of Education and driven by the Head Start team and is a careers expo aimed specifically at female and gender-diverse secondary students from right across Victoria to showcase the rewarding and lucrative career opportunities available.
Over the two days more than 3500 students registered to visit the Convention centre in Melbourne and be exposed to all types of careers in trades and technology. Our village was strong at this event, partnering with EWIT at our booth creating epic mug and jewellery holders were Apprenticeship Support Australia, Platinum Institute Australia and Women’s Health Grampians. We also have Alice and the team from Kapitol showcasing their incredible 3d project plans and engaging students in an interactive exercise to find items in the plans. Hacia had the honour of kicking off the event speaking about the range of careers available to women in skilled trades before introducing close friend of EWIT and amazing human, Ashley Belteky to explain the inner workings of a diesel engine.
We were thrilled to collaborate with North Melbourne Football Club as we bought the Freestyle Program to life at the expo and were able to promote the opportunities for schools to get involved in the Kicking Goals in Trades Program. We were joined by program partners DeWalt, Laing O’Rourke, Yarra Trams, Dulux, Red Zed and CSR who all provided incredible activities for students to engage with and learn more about a variety of trades. With a special visit from Molly, the Dulux Dog and AFWL/AFL stars Emma King, Jasmine Garner, Jenna Bruton, Libby Birch and Callum Coleman-Jones, the stand was a hive of excitement.
If you would like your school involved, complete the expression of interest form here.
Future of Construction Summit – May 14-15, 2024.
EWIT will be attending the Future of Construction Summit (FCON 24) in Brisbane next week. FCON is the construction industry’s premier national event focused on creating a more progressive, productive, and sustainable construction industry.
If you would like to be there to take part in deciding the future of the industry it’s not too late and FCON has offered the EWIT community a 20% on tickets by pricing using the code: FCONEWIT.
We will report on all of the goings on at FCON on our Instagram and Facebook pages so don’t forget to follow us for all of the news.
Join The Alliance
EWIT is thrilled to introduce Alliance Membership to our community. Alliance membership provides a way for companies large and small to support EWIT and the important work we do. Its also a way for companies to demonstrate their support of a more diverse and inclusive skilled trade workplace – creating opportunities for women in skilled trades and making a difference to the skills shortages in construction, manufacturing and renewable energy industries.
The support of our Alliance Members subsidises EWIT’s work wards increasing female and gender-diverse representation in skilled trades through Tool Skills Days, government submissions, involvement at Expos and Conferences, Talent Attraction programs and School programs, all over the country to demonstrate that a skilled trade can be a fantastic career opportunity, whilst supporting them to take their first step into the industry.
Alliance members also support our efforts to bring the message of 30% female representation in skilled trades by 2030 (30 by 30) to the wider industry and public. At a time when headlines about manufacturing, construction and renewable energy are focused on shortages and falling behind, EWIT Alliance Members demonstrate that they are doing all they can to address the issue by creating opportunities for women.
To find out how your organisation can become an alliance member visit the EWIT website here.
Our team works from many locations and we acknowledge the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
EWIT is a proudly inclusive organisation and an ally of LGBTIQ+ community and the movement toward equality.
