Women excluded from Britain's skilled trades have been prevented from passing their skills to future generations, creating an overlooked barrier to recruiting more young women into apprenticeships, according to new research from the University of Portsmouth.
The study found that discrimination not only denied many women the opportunity to build rewarding careers, but also prevented them from passing on their skills, knowledge and occupational identity to their own children and younger generations. The researchers argue this has stopped skilled trades from becoming established female career pathways in the same way they have for men.
Published in the Capital & Class Journal, the paper draws on the work histories of 13 women who completed apprenticeships in Britain's Royal Dockyards. Their experiences challenge the widely held belief that craft careers offer a universal route to meaningful and fulfilling work, arguing instead that skilled trades have long been shaped by structural gender inequality.
These women weren't simply denied equal opportunities in their own careers. Many were also prevented from passing on their knowledge, skills and pride in their work to the next generation.
Dr George Ackers , University of Portsmouth
Drawing on interviews with women who trained in Britain's Royal Dockyards, the study found that discrimination was embedded in everyday working life through restricted access to training, exclusion from skilled tasks, harassment and workplace cultures that treated women as outsiders.
The research also found that these workplace cultures affected everyone. While women were excluded from developing meaningful careers, male colleagues were discouraged from empathy and solidarity by workplace cultures that normalised or tolerated discrimination.
"These women weren't simply denied equal opportunities in their own careers," said Dr George Ackers from the University of Portsmouth. "Many were also prevented from passing on their knowledge, skills and pride in their work to the next generation. That has lasting consequences, not only for individual families but for the future of the skilled trades themselves."
The findings come as the Government seeks to increase apprenticeship opportunities through its New Deal for Young People .
Dr Ackers explained: "This could also represent an important but often overlooked barrier to increasing young women's participation through the Government's New Deal for Young People investment in apprenticeships, particularly in male-dominated trades.
"If young women have fewer opportunities to grow up around female relatives working in these occupations, they are less likely to see trade work as a viable or realistic career path. This means that tackling gender inequality in apprenticeships is not simply about opening up opportunities today, but also about creating the conditions for future generations of women to enter and remain in the trades."
If we want more women in the trades tomorrow, we need to recognise why so many women were unable to remain there yesterday. Only then can we begin to break the cycle that has kept these occupations overwhelmingly male for generations.
Dr George Ackers , University of Portsmouth
The research challenges other theories that portray craftsmanship as an escape from the alienation of modern working life. Instead, it argues that craft careers can themselves be shaped by discrimination and unequal power structures.
The paper describes this as a "craft paradox". While skilled trades are often celebrated as offering dignity, autonomy and fulfilment, the women interviewed found those opportunities were systematically limited by gender discrimination.
Dr Ackers said: "The experiences of these tradeswomen show that meaningful work cannot be understood without recognising who has access to it, and who is excluded.
"We often celebrate craftsmanship as a model of dignity, creativity and fulfilment. But those ideals cannot be universal while women continue to face structural barriers that prevent them from accessing and sustaining these careers."
The paper concludes that creating greater equality in the skilled trades requires more than increasing apprenticeship numbers. The research highlights that employers, policymakers and educators must tackle the structural barriers that have historically excluded women if they are to create lasting change and ensure future generations can see skilled trades as careers open to everyone.
"If we want more women in the trades tomorrow, we need to recognise why so many women were unable to remain there yesterday," Dr Ackers concludes. "Only then can we begin to break the cycle that has kept these occupations overwhelmingly male for generations."
