Women's advisory committee puts call out for women in male dominated industries to come forward

The Lithgow community has a large male dominated workforce, and at the latest Women's Advisory Committee meeting the group discussed ways they could acknowledge and support women in these industries.

In April 2019, Lithgow City Council set up the Women's Advisory Committee to better identify 'blind spots' in the community and weigh in on issues including skills building and empowerment for women.

Committee President and Lithgow City Councillor Cass Coleman said that the idea [to support women in male dominated industries] originated when a woman contacted her wanting to express the lack of support she felt in her male-dominated workplace.

Cr Coleman brought the idea to the committee meeting on August 4, which kicked off a 'robust conversation' about women in male-dominated industries in the area.

"Especially in mining, engineering, emergency services such as the fire brigade, police services, and so forth," she said.

"So we started talking about the women who are in these male dominated industries and we discussed how we could provide support to these women."

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The group decided it would look at running a project where they would interview women and ask them to come forward and tell them about their experiences working in a male-dominated industry and how they manage their path to success.

"We would ask what advice they could give to women who want to pursue a career such as a mechanic, or someone in the pits or fire brigade," she said.

"We just want to call them to come forward, so we can support them and raise awareness and build solidarity for these women because they don't have a group to go to and we want to provide that locally."

Cr Coleman said that many women who work in male-dominated industries don't have that support network that they need, so the group wants them to feel supported and provide visibility to them they might not have had before.

The committee will collaborate with the Lithgow City Council's Community and Cultural division and produce videos of these women which will lead into International Women's day next March.

"It is one project I'm very passionate about, providing that support network and empowering these women to pass on their knowledge, skills and information," she said.

Cr Coleman said she spoke to a woman who wanted to become a mechanic but was intimidated by the fact it was male dominated.

"Surely out there, there has to be a woman mechanic that can provide support and encouragement and show her a pathway," she said.

"It is about providing role models because they are hard to come by in male dominated fields, and quite frankly you don't know where to start looking.

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"We need to support the next generation of women who want to work in a male dominated field and by the time my daughters have daughters there won't be such thing as women working in a male dominated field it will just be working together."

Cr Coleman said that it would be great if women would come forward to help make these videos and generate visibility around the different career options available for young women.

"This is the reason I'm on council... to make solid difference to the residents of Lithgow," she said.

"I love this committee, I really love the meetings and you don't know what you're going to get and the women are intelligent and are right up to date on what is happening in the community."

If you are interested contact Council on 6354 9999 and ask to speak with Ali Kim or Cass Coleman.

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