There is still a gap between men and women, and not only when it comes to pay. In handicrafts, however, the gender-specific division of labor is still particularly pronounced.
Apprentices with a teacher in a technology center near Leipzig
Bike 5ive is a small bicycle shop with a workshop in the east of Frankfurt. Bettina Karow set up her own business here 13 years ago. And it wasn't an easy road. “It was difficult to find an apprenticeship. And then it wasn't easy to find a job either. I've often heard that there are no changing rooms or toilets for women, that was a problem.”
Nevertheless, the 41-year-old continued on her way despite all the obstacles. However, as a two-wheeler mechanic in an otherwise male-dominated industry, she often had to contend with prejudice. “Before, I had another shop. It was small because the landlord didn't want to give me the larger shop next door. After all, men wouldn't let a woman repair a bike. That was extreme.” Bettina Karow's second shop is now up and running, even if she is still struggling with problems. It's mainly the aftermath of the pandemic and supply chain issues that are making life difficult for a small buyer of bike parts like her.
Only 20 percent of the trainees are women
Bettina Karow can be seen as something of a “model woman” in the trade. Because among the trainees, the proportion of women in occupations such as hers, the construction or finishing trades or car mechanics is in the lower to middle single-digit percentage range. “Women are still heavily underrepresented in the trades,” says Gabriele Wydra-Somaggio from the Institute for Labor Market and Occupational Research (IAB) of the Federal Employment Agency. “This is where this gender-specific division of the training and labor market comes into play very clearly.”
Carpenter and housewife on the move
The proportion of women among the trainees is only around 20 percent, which means that only 20 percent of the master craftsman examinations are taken by women. The different areas of the trades are divided up according to gender. There are clearly female-dominated trades, such as hairdressing. Professions such as confectioner, seamstress or goldsmith are areas in which women mainly gain a foothold.
Image campaign should help
In the technical professions, dental technicians and opticians are popular among women. In other areas, such as the building trade, men still dominate. “So there's still room for improvement,” Jörg Dittrich, the new president of the Central Association of German Crafts and Trades, who has been in office since the beginning of the year, told DW.
The industry and its association are trying out various projects and initiatives such as the girls -Day to get young women interested in trades. An image campaign is intended to help present crafts more strongly as a field of activity for women. Measures intended to change the situation in times of a shortage of skilled workers.
A metal worker at work< /p>
And these measures are having an effect in that the number of female trainees in the construction and finishing trades has risen steadily in recent years – albeit at a low level. For example, the proportion of young women among trainees in the main construction trades in 2021 was just 2.5 percent.
Digitization makes work easier
It could well be worthwhile for women to enter the world of professions that have so far tended to be male-dominated. Because a side effect of the gender-specific division in the skilled trades is lower pay for women on average. Gabriele Wydra-Somaggio: “Women primarily practice more creative trades that have a significantly lower wage level than the technical professions that are primarily practiced by men.” This is also due to the fact that larger companies are often active in these occupational fields, in which the wage level is determined by collective agreements.
In order to increase the popularity of women in all craft areas in the future, the Central Association of Crafts points out that many professions had developed. “Some professions are physically demanding. But there are now also many facilities that make it easier for women to access them,” says Jörg Dittrich, president of the trades. For example, drones are used in the roofing trade, but technical progress and digitization are now making physical work considerably easier in many other trades.