In Australia and internationally, women continue to be underrepresented in male-dominated trade occupations. A notable barrier is the apprenticeship system, which requires women to overcome obstacles in employment and training. Government and industry stakeholders have encouraged women’s apprenticeships in male-dominated trades through the development of Group Training Organisations’ (GTOs) that operate as intermediaries between apprentices and employers. Extending Acker’s model of workplace inequality regimes, we argue that inequality regimes operate between organisations at an industry-wide level. We ask ‘Do GTOs operate to produce and reproduce workplace and industry-wide inequality regimes? Or can they facilitate improved gender diversity in male-dominated trades?’ Drawing on a recent study of regional tradeswomen’s employment, we find that although GTOs have an important role in facilitating gender diversity, they have inconsistent results in challenging existing inequality regimes. There is a risk that they may become a vector of transmission for workplace inequality regimes to the broader industry.JEL Codes: R23, J71, I24

中文翻译：

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男性主导行业的不平等制度：学徒中介 (GTO) 扮演什么角色？

在澳大利亚和国际上，女性在男性主导的贸易职业中的代表性仍然不足。一个显着的障碍是学徒制度，它要求妇女克服就业和培训方面的障碍。政府和行业利益相关者通过发展作为学徒和雇主之间中介的团体培训组织 (GTO)，鼓励女性在男性主导的行业中担任学徒。扩展 Acker 的工作场所不平等制度模型，我们认为不平等制度在整个行业的组织之间运作。我们问' GTO 是否运作以产生和复制工作场所和行业范围内的不平等制度？或者他们能促进男性主导行业的性别多样性的改善吗？' 根据最近对区域女商人就业的一项研究，我们发现尽管 GTO 在促进性别多样性方面发挥着重要作用，但它们在挑战现有不平等制度方面的结果并不一致。它们有可能成为工作场所不平等制度向更广泛行业传播的媒介。JEL 代码： R23、J71、I24