Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T19:58:50.819Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Employment and Training Opportunities in Manufacturing Industries — the Experience of Women in Queensland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2016

Get access

Abstract

Manufacturing industries continue to be promoted by governments and commentators as vital to the provision of quality employment and the furthering of export performance. It has been extensively argued that the adoption of advanced manufacturing technology which require highly trained staff will provide quality employment and facilitate the building of the national skills base. However, women employed in manufacturing have generally been concentrated in low skilled employment and non-trade occupations. Therefore, it cannot be assumed that that the upgrading of skills in manufacturing industries will benefit women. This paper examines women's employment in two manufacturing industries in the Brisbane area — Food Processing and Light Metal Products. It shows that, although there is increasing evidence that these industries have increased their training effort, there is little evidence to suggest that women employed in manufacturing in Queensland have been able to capitalise on these opportunities.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), catalogue number 6203, various years, The Labour Force, Australia. Canberra: AGPS.Google Scholar
Beechey, Veronica and Perkins, Tessa (1987) A Matter of Hours — Women, Part-time work and the Labour Market, Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Bell, Stephen (1993) Australian Manufacturing and the State, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bell, Stephen (1997) Ungoverning the Economy, Melbourne: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Borland, Jeff and Foo, Lyn (1996) ‘The composition of employment in manufacturing industry’, Journal of Industrial Relations 38(3): 442446.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bureau of Industry Economics (BIE) Australia (1993) Australian Industry Trends 17, Canberra: BIE.Google Scholar
Employment and Skills Formation Council (ESFC) (1992) Australian Vocational Training Certificate System, Canberra: AGPS.Google Scholar
Cohen, Stephen and Zysman, Joseph (1987) Manufacturing Matters — The Myth of the Post-Industrial Economy, New York: Basic Books.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dawkins, John S. (1998) Industry Training in Australia — The Need for Change, Canberra: AGPS.Google Scholar
Department of Employment, Education and Training (DEET) (Economic and Policy Analysis Division). (1991) Australia's Workforce in the Year 2001. Canberra: AGPS.Google Scholar
DEET (Vocational Education, Employment, Education and Training Committee [VEETAC]) (1992) Essential Features of Australia's Training System, Canberra: AGPS.Google Scholar
Australian Education Council (AEC) (1991) Review of Young Peoples Participation in Post-Compulsory Education — Main Report, Canberra: AGPS.Google Scholar
Ewer, Peter, Higgins, Winton and Stevens, Annette (1987) Unions and the Future of Manufacturing in Australia, Sydney: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Glezer, Helen (1988) Maternity Leave in Australia: Employee and Employer Experiences, Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.Google Scholar
Gospel, Howard F. (1994) ‘The survival of apprenticeship training in Australia?’, Journal of Industrial Relations 36 (1): 3756.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, Ron (1994) The Role and Significance of Metal and Engineering Skills in Australia: A Case Study Analysis. Department of Economics Research Report or Occasional Paper No. 201. No. 17 ESC Working Paper Series. Employment Studies Centre, University of Newcastle.Google Scholar
Higgins, Winton (1991) ‘Missing the boat — Labor and industry in the eighties’, in Galligan, Brian and Singleton, Gwynneth (eds.) Business and Government under Labor, Melbourne: Longman Cheshire.Google Scholar
House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training. 1991. Skills Training for the 21st Century. Canberra: AGPS.Google Scholar
Lee, Julie-Anne (1994) ‘Women and enterprise bargaining: the corset of the 1990s?Australian Journal of Public Administration 53: 189200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macken, James J. (1989) Award Restructuring. Annandale: The Federation Press.Google Scholar
Muller, Juanita (1997) ‘Women in Unemployment: Research Findings and Further Issues’, in Tomlinson, J., Patton, W., Creed, P. and Hicks, R. (eds.) Unemployment Policy and Practice, Brisbane: Australian Academic Press.Google Scholar
National Metal and Engineering Training Board (NMETB) (1995) The National Metal and Engineering Curriculum Module Banks — build your workforce with the skills you need. NMEBT.Google Scholar
O'Donnell, Carol (1984) The Basis of the Bargain — Gender, Schooling and Jobs, Sydney: George Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Probert, Belinda (1992) ‘Award Restructuring and Clerical Work: Skills, Training and Careers in a Feminized Occupation’, Journal of Industrial Relations 34(3): 436454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevensen, John C. and McKavanagh, Charles W. (1992) ‘Skills formation for the workplace’, in Poole, Millicent (ed.) Education and Work, Hawthorn: ACER.Google Scholar
Pocock, Barbara (1988) Demanding Skills: Women and Technical Education in Australia, Sydney: George Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Robertson, Rachel and Carapellucci, Flora (1992) ‘Enterprise bargaining: implications for women’, Work and People 14 (2): 1924.Google Scholar
Smith, Meg and Ewer, Peter (1995) The Position of Women in the National Training Reform Agenda and Enterprise Bargaining, Canberra: AGPS.Google Scholar
Wajcman, Judy (1991) ‘Patriarchy, technology and conceptions of skill’, Work and Occupations 18 (1): 2945.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weeks, Anne (1992) ‘Women into trades: rhetoric or reality?’, in Poole, Millicent (ed.) Education and Work. Hawthorn: ACER.Google Scholar
Wickham, Ann (1986) Women and Training. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Wilkins, P. (1983) ‘Women and engineering in the Plymouth area: job segregation and training at company level’, EOC Research Bulletin 7.Google Scholar