WOMEN IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

How Toolkit gender friendly iSkills training is enabling more women to excel in the previously male-dominated artisan trade specializations such as Scaffolding and Welding.

 ”I am now aiming to become the best woman iScaffolder in Kenya.” Martha Mwaighacho Toolkit iSkills Scaffolder

For decades. women in Kenya were not viewed as major players in the construction industry which has been a male dominated sector . In he past few years , this rend has been changing with more and more women pursuing specialised trades in the construction industry. Toolkit iSkills whose driving force is raising youth from unskilled and unemployed to highly skilled and sought after has been at the fore front in ensuring women who join the programs are not left behind in this noble initiative. The Toolkit iSkills  training model which is tailor made to fit marginalised and unskilled youth needs focuses on three critical pillars : Life skills , technical skills and links to industry.The training which accommodates needs for young mothers also integrates career mentorship and a women empowerment girls talk initiative facilitated by role models in the construction and manufacturing industry.  

In addition to our Toolkit iSkills gender friendly training , the female artisans in Toolkit have also found  a role model and inspiration from the founder and Executive Director Toolkit iSkills a Harvard-educated international human rights lawyer. She resigned from her position as a senior legal advisor at the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to pursue her passion of disrupting the unemployability crisis in Kenya through innovative career pathways that enables both practicing and  unskilled youth to find their niche in the 21st century labour market.

A recent survey conducted by TTi in partnership with Habitat for Humanity reveals that the female population (14%) is starting to build up in what was previously a dominated male field.