The Women in Non Traditional Trades Incentive will be withdrawn from 1 July 2006. It has not been effective in achieving its purpose of supporting sustainable career paths, nor a reasonable return on the training investment to encourage female participation in New Apprenticeships in non traditional occupations.

The intent of the Women in Non Traditional New Apprenticeships incentive was to influence employers' recruitment of New Apprentices in areas that would offer career paths to women in non traditional areas.
 
It became clear that the employers who took up this incentive were in industries which employ large numbers of women in low skilled occupations, such as the meat and chicken processing industries, warehousing and distribution and process manufacturing. Additionally a significant proportion of claims for this incentive were for New Apprentices training in low level qualifications. This is clearly out of step with current Australian Government initiatives, particularly those addressing national skills needs.
 
Women in non traditional New Apprenticeships will still be eligible to attract the standard incentives of between $1,250 for Certificate II and $4,000 for Certificate III and IV. Furthermore, funding from the Women in Non Traditional New Apprenticeships incentive is being redirected towards higher level qualifications in areas such as health and community services, where there is more prospect of a sustainable career path for women with greater financial rewards for the individual.

Courtesy VECCI RTO update edition 48