Six women on what it’s really like to build a career in trades 

Metro Trains Melbourne: from first day to first of her kind

Bel McCreddan joined the rail industry in 2019 in Safeworking, moved into Track Force Protection Coordinator in 2022, and in early 2026 became the first woman appointed Works Officer at Metro Trains Melbourne. What started as a six-week backfill in the role has now run for 13 months, and counting.

“Metro has been actively improving facilities for women, including upgrading bathroom and shower amenities, and they now provide Personal Protective Equipment specifically designed for women, ensuring a better fit, comfort, and safety on the job. I am in an environment where I feel valued and empowered and have been supported to develop the skills and confidence I need to succeed in this role.”

Bel isn’t on her own. Women now make up over a third of Metro’s workforce, up from around 12% in 2009, with growing representation in technical, operational and senior leadership roles, proof that flexible work, parental leave and apprenticeships built for the long term add up to more than numbers on a page.

Bel McCreddan, Works Officer at Metro Trains Melbourne

Rheinmetall: where a father and daughter work the same line

Auri Crystal’s dad completed Rheinmetall’s 12-week Veteran Program and moved into a full-time role on the Drive Module team. When the team was looking for new people, he recommended his daughter. After interviewing with the team’s Production Manager and a Talent Acquisition representative, Auri joined as a Trades Assistant, and the team is now working towards bringing her into an apprenticeship.

Her advice to other women considering a trade is direct: 

“Do it! For me, I’ve experienced being discouraged in the past due to my gender but personally Rheinmetall is very inclusive and supportive of my journey and has showed me that I can do anything if I put the work and effort into it. I believe any young woman wishing to start their career in a trade will thrive with the right support.”

Auri Crystal, Trades Assistant at Rheinmetall

Sandvik: showing the job as it actually looks

If you’re picturing what a trade job at Sandvik Mining actually looks like, they’d rather you see the real thing. Sandvik uses real, unstaged images of women working on-site in trade and male-dominated environments, not the polished version many employers default to. Seeing genuine examples of women already succeeding in these roles, and knowing there’s a support network behind them, is what reframes the industry for the next person considering it, and builds a level of trust a stock photo never could.

As Taylar White, Co-Leading Hand at Sandvik, puts it: 

Taylar White, Co-Leading Hand at Sandvik

That same instinct carries into daily life on-site. Regular check-ins mean people have space to say when something’s not right, problems get addressed directly instead of being left to settle, and that accountability is something the team keeps living day to day, not a line in a handbook.

Heavy Diesel Mechanic Apprentice Lianna Woodsbey is 3.5 years into her apprenticeship in Mount Isa, having built technical capability across both fixed and mobile plant through specialised product training and one-on-one mentoring with experienced technicians. She has been recognised as a QMEA 2023 Ambassador, QMEA Exceptional Female Student, and North West Queensland SBA of the Year.

She credits Sandvik’s team culture, colleagues who are consistently willing to help and who encourage her to keep working towards her goals, for giving her the confidence to keep stepping outside her comfort zone. Her progress is the clearest evidence of Sandvik’s own point: women can belong and thrive in trades.

Lianna Woodsbey, Heavy Diesel Mechanic Apprentice at Sandvik

Thales: an apprenticeship built to meet you where you are

Gypsy-Rose Honeybee took a labouring job after school, turned it into an apprenticeship, and discovered the opportunity to work on Navy ships.

“For the first three months, I was quite nervous about coming in here. But once I did, they wanted to know where I was up to. They’d focus on the parts I was struggling with, and put in effort. They were really patient with me.”

Now in her third year as a mechanical apprentice, she credits the structured, ongoing support for turning early nerves into confidence.

It’s part of a wider effort to reach women earlier, through school and community engagement and a presence at women-in-trades and careers expos, but for Gypsy-Rose, it was the day-to-day experience once she started that decided whether she’d stay.

Watch the video below to learn more about Gypsy-Rose’s apprenticeship journey.

Yancoal: you don’t need mining experience to start

Sarah North was Moolarben Coal Operations’ first woman apprentice in the maintenance department, and she’s still its only tradeswoman on site. Now working as a Maintenance Spotter, she mentors current and future apprentices, and in 2026 was named a finalist in the NSW Women in Mining Awards.

She got there without a mining background, which is exactly the point. Yancoal’s New to Industry and trainee operator programs hire for attitude, safety mindset and willingness to learn first, then build technical skills through structured training and mentoring, an approach that’s lifted women’s operator participation and retention at Mount Thorley Warkworth.

Sarah’s not mentoring alone: In 2025, the Women@Yancoal Mentoring Program paired 17 women with experienced mentors, five of them tradeswomen, and the number of women in wages roles across Yancoal has grown to 335, up from 264 in 2023, (a 26.9% increase). 

As Sarah Bowman, Remuneration and Benefits Manager at Yancoal, puts it: 

“Our goal is to create an environment where women don’t just enter the industry. We want them to build successful careers and inspire others to follow.”

BAE Systems: reaching girls years before they’d ever apply for a trade job

For a lot of women, ruling out a trade happens long before they’d ever apply for one, often in high school, before they’ve had the chance to try it. BAE Systems Australia‘s Trades Work Experience program was built to address  that: four days on the tools at the Osborne Naval Shipyard for Year 11 and 12 students, working alongside tradespeople instead of just hearing about the job. School visits and sporting club presentations aimed at young women helped lift applications to its South Australian apprenticeship program from 16 to 100 in a single year, a rise of more than 500%.

The reach extends further, through Beacon, its STEM outreach program, which has already engaged over 3,500 primary school kids nationally with 52% girls’ participation. The results are strong enough that the South Australian Government is investing $2 million to run Beacon across 80 public primary schools, reaching 15,000 kids over the next three years. In 2025, the Williams Hicks Female Engineering Scholarship launched with the University of South Australia, University of Newcastle and RMIT, opening a path for regional women into engineering. The first scholars start their placements later this year.

BAE Systems also provides hands-on tooling experience to students who develop and complete a small project under the supervision of experienced tradespeople, with priority given to students in Years 11 and 12.

Daughters’ Day event with employees who transitioned into the Apprenticeship scheme

It’s starting to show up in who gets hired: BAE Systems’ February 2026 Early Careers cohort was 50% women among new degree apprentices and 42% among new graduates. Trade apprenticeships are moving more slowly, just 13% of new trade apprentices were women, a reminder that this kind of change moves faster in some roles than others.

Lexi, Mel and Becky, Apprentices at BAE Systems