Women in Energy and Manufacturing funding program

This grants program aims to boost women’s participation and equity in the Victorian energy and manufacturing industries, especially in majority-men trade-based and leadership roles.

The aim is to do this through activities that focus on:

• clear and attractive career pathways
• access to education and training
• economic equity and leadership opportunities
• accountability for workplace culture, diversity and wellbeing.

These activities will align with the forthcoming Women in Energy and Women in Manufacturing Strategies. These strategies aim to address recommendation 19 of the Inquiry into economic equity for Victorian women to attract, recruit and retain women in majority-men industries.

Applications for this funding program ran from 23 January 2024 to 20 February 2024. 

Successful applicants

• $200,000 is provided to National Electrical and Communications Association (NECA) Education and Careers to deliver the WaTT+ program to support leadership advancement of women electrical apprentices and the WaTT EDGE project providing gender equality training to educators to foster more inclusive training environments.
• $191,400 is provided to the Australian Workers’ Union to deliver the Job Ready and Ready for Advancement project to develop workplace gender equality training for manufacturing and energy employers, pilot culture change initiatives in partner workplaces, and support women members into trade-based roles. 
• $164,570 is provided to Whittlesea Community Connections, to deliver the Redefining Women’s Work in Hume and Whittlesea project to support women who face compounding barriers, particularly multicultural women, to engage in careers in manufacturing and energy jobs through skill building opportunities, peer networking and tailored career support.
• $150,000 is provided to Women’s Health in the South East to deliver the Nice Work If You Can Get It project that is focused on improving women’s retention in apprenticeships through partnering with Chisholm TAFE to conduct a gender impact assessment on their manufacturing apprenticeship programs and build capacity of TAFE leaders and employees.
• $120,000 is provided to the Clean Energy Council to deliver the Showcasing the Women in Victoria’s Energy Transition project that aims to showcase women from diverse backgrounds working in renewable energy in different roles and stages of their careers through a state-wide social media campaign to highlight the exciting career pathways available to women in renewable energy.
• $100,000 is provided to the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union to deliver the Women in Manufacturing program by partnering with manufacturing employers to pilot family-friendly shifts, boost the advancement of women from low-paying jobs into leadership positions, deliver educational forums on improving workplace culture to small-to-medium sized enterprises and establish a peer network for women in the sector.
• $100,000 is provided to Gippsland Women’s Health, to deliver the Towards Gender Mainstreaming in Renewable Energy in Gippsland project to develop a toolkit and provide tailored support for energy businesses in Gippsland to implement gender equitable policies and procedures.
• $100,000 is provided to Women’s Health Grampians to deliver the See What You Can Be / Act on Site in the Wimmera project, a whole of workplace culture change program, for manufacturing and energy businesses in Wimmera focusing on recruitment policies, procedures and wraparound supports for women. 
• $97,015 is provided to Ai Group to deliver the Apprentice to Leader Program that supports advancement of women in manufacturing and energy sectors across Victoria through engaging apprentices and mid-career workers in leadership workshops and peer to peer mentoring. 
• $97,015 is provided to the Geelong Manufacturing Council to deliver the Big ideas: Boosting Implementation of Gender Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access project to address structural workplace barriers by providing education and developing gender equitable workplace policy templates for manufacturing employers located in Geelong.

Application feedback