Women Make Up Just 3-7% Of Trainees In Core Technical TradesHyderabad: As the debate over 33% reservation for women returns to centre stage, a new NITI Aayog working paper has spotlighted another imbalance: Women remain overwhelmingly absent from India’s core engineering trades.The report shows that while women make up 93% to 99% of admissions in courses such as cosmetology, fashion design, dress making and embroidery, their share in engineering streams like mechanic (motor vehicle), plumber, fitter, welder and electrician is barely 2.7% to 6.8%.The paper, ‘Girls and Women at the Centre: Advancing Non-Traditional Livelihoods in India’, notes that India’s skilling ecosystem continues to channel women into traditional occupations even as technical and industrial jobs promise better wages and stronger career prospects.Between 2019 and 2024, women accounted for only about two lakh admissions in engineering trades at Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), compared to nearly 36.5 lakh men — just 5.5% of total enrolments.Trade-wise data underline the divide: Women constitute 2.7% of trainees in mechanic (motor vehicle), 2.9% in plumber, 3.4% in fitter, 3.5% in welder, 4.8% in electrician and 6.8% in wireman. These trades are among the largest sources of skilled jobs in manufacturing, construction, infrastructure and maintenance.The picture flips in non-engineering streams. Women account for 98.8% of enrolments in surface ornamentation techniques (embroidery), 98.3% in cosmetology, 97.9% in fashion design and technology, 95.3% in dress making and 93% in sewing technology.Even in technology-linked non-engineering trades, their participation remains modest — 34.3% in computer operator and programming assistant (COPA) and 29.8% in computer hardware and network maintenance.Overall, women outnumber men in non-engineering ITI courses, with nearly 3.5 lakh admissions against 2.6 lakh male enrolments, or about 57% of total admissions in these streams. Officials said the trend is similar in Telangana.The report attributes the skew to gender stereotypes, inadequate career counselling, safety concerns, limited access to apprenticeships and perceptions that industrial jobs are unsuitable for women.It argues that occupational segregation, rather than educational attainment, has emerged as one of the biggest barriers to women’s economic empowerment.NITI Aayog has recommended gender-sensitive career counselling, scholarships, targeted apprenticeships, safer hostels and transport, industry partnerships and awareness campaigns to encourage girls to enter non-traditional trades.
