The State Government has today announced two new initiatives to create safer and more inclusive workplaces for women. The State Government is investing $3 million to establish a new TAFE scholarship program to attract women into occupations that are traditionally male-dominated and assist with covering their training costs and other associated expenses.
The scholarships would be available for a range of STEM, building and construction occupations with female workforce participation of less than 25 per cent to increase pathways for women to higher-paying jobs. Broadening recent efforts to address health and safety issues impacting women in the mining industry, a new Women's Workplace Safety Hub is now available for all industries. The online hub provides contemporary information and resources for both women who are experiencing workplace harassment and employers looking for resources to prevent harassment in their workplace, including what constitutes sexual harassment, how to make a complaint, and where to go if you are in need of immediate assistance and support.
For International Women's Day 2023, the Premier and Women's Interests Minister today joined construction industry leaders to highlight how safe and inclusive workplaces are key to encouraging more women to enter and stay in construction and other traditionally male-dominated industries that are currently crying out for workers. WA has the highest gender pay gap in Australia, partly due to occupational segregation in high-paying industries such as construction and mining.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in 2022 women made up just 18 per cent of the building and construction industry's workforce, while they make up a significantly lower proportion of those in trades. This year's theme for International Women's Day is 'Cracking the Code' to highlight how innovation, inclusive technologies and accessible education can combat discrimination and marginalisation of women around the world. In recent years, there have been significant increases in women taking up publicly funded TAFE course enrolments across many areas of industry, including construction.
The number of female apprentices in training in building and construction trades has grown by 228 per cent. The State Government today also launched its Stronger Together Annual Progress Report, providing the latest update on programs and actions progressed since Stronger Together: WA's Plan for Gender Equality was launched in March 2020. One of the key actions identified in the report has now been achieved, with 50 per cent of WA public service Senior Executive Services (SES) contracts now held by women - up from 33 per cent in 2018.