Stonemasonry apprentice says firms reject her for being a girl
A stonemasonry student said companies had told her she could not join the profession "because she's a girl".Alice, who is 17, was one of the students who took part in a competition for apprentices at Moulton College in Northampton on Thursday.Industry experts have said 19,750 extra construction workers are needed in the East of England by 2028 to meet government housebuilding targets.However, some students, like Alice, said they still faced barriers which made it difficult to pursue a career in construction.
The SkillBuild competition, organised by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), tested apprentices and trainees in a variety of tasks, from furniture making to tiling.Alice, from Weston Favell in Northamptonshire, inherited her interest in architecture from her grandfather and wanted to work on some of the UK's greatest stone buildings - cathedrals.But she said her journey had not been easy."I've tried to contact some companies to get onto that kind of work, but it hasn't really worked out," she told the BBC."The main thing is that I'm a woman and a lot of companies have told me 'you can't do this because you're a girl - you're not strong enough, you won't be able to do the heavy labour'."
Another competitor, Maizie from Bury St Edmonds in Suffolk, wanted to encourage more women to join the industry.The 17-year-old goes to college in Colchester and said: "In my class it's actually a pretty good mix, but in the industry as a whole, it's definitely a big imbalance. "People need to realise the value of these industries, and we need to push more young people to go into it. It can be a bit inaccessible at the beginning, especially for young people, since working in these workshop environments can be quite dangerous."
The first obstacle in the competition for Rugby man Sean, 18, was having to "scavenge" for the right tools to make a porch roof, having brought the wrong ones.The bigger issue for him, generally, was the lack of opportunities for young people. He said: "There's not enough apprenticeships - it took me two years to get here, and I feel like that's one of the biggest problems."The amount of houses they're trying to build; they definitely need more apprenticeships."
A CITB report published this month said 19,750 new workers were needed in the region.Robert Smith, from the CITB, said "we really need to make that attractive so that they know there are jobs for the future, secure opportunities and great career pathways".The figures suggest there is a long way to go before there is a gender balance in the industry.According to The Office for National Statistics, women comprise just 15.8% of the construction workforce and only 2% of workers onsite.There is some hope, though, with the number of women as a proportion of the overall construction workforce increasing by 36.9% since 2012.The government said construction would be one area to benefit from a "record-breaking £3bn apprenticeship budget".
Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
5 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Premier League 'bids to close financial loophole that helped Chelsea comply with PSR regulations' by selling hotels and women's team to sister company
The Premier League will reportedly attempt to close a financial loophole that has previously helped Chelsea to comply with PSR regulations. The Blues have undergone a period of heavy spending since a Todd Boehly-led consortium took over the club in 2022, with an outlay of more than £1billion on transfers during that period. This has meant they have been under pressure to meet financial rules, but in recent years the Blues have sold their women's team and on-site club hotels to a sister company which helped them to satisfy regulations. Chelsea's women's team fetched £198.7m, while two hotels brought in £70.5m in profit. And, according to The Times, the Premier League is planning to try and close that loophole at the league's annual meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. All 20 clubs are expected to be asked to vote on an alterations to rules that would state similar transactions would not be allowed to be declared as income for PSR purposes. For a measure to pass, 14 out of 20 clubs would have to vote in favour. The report goes on to say that the wording of any such proposal would be crucial, with similar attempts last year failing to go through due to this reason. It was felt the description was too broad and could lead to other unintended consequences in regards to selling assets externally. There is also said to be a feeling that if Chelsea have been able to benefit from the loophole then other clubs should be allowed to as well. The Premier League is still finalising how the proposed rule changes will be worded. The women's team figure is yet to be approved by the Premier League, although the club will argue that the recent eight per cent investment by Serena Williams' husband, Alexis Ohanian, values them at £245m. Meanwhile, the regulations in the Premier League are different to that of UEFA, with the European football governing body not accepting the sale of assets to sister companies as income. This means that the transfer of the Blues' women's team in the run-up to the 2023-24 finances deadline allowed Chelsea to post a £129.6m profit for the Premier League, whereas it was a £70.4m loss for UEFA. UEFA restrictions are also stricter in terms of limiting the losses a club can make and the amount that can be spent on wages, transfers and agents' fees in relation to club's revenue. Chelsea's finances did receive a major boost last month when they qualified for the Champions League, something that can be worth up to £100million in prize money. Their triumph in the Europa Conference League final also earned the club around £15m and gives the Blues wiggle room as they attempt to meet PSR restrictions this time around.
Telegraph
10 minutes ago
- Telegraph
‘Gap year' troops to get the Army growing
Sir Keir Starmer has bet on a gap year army to fight the Russian threat. A new review aiming to transform defence over the next decade recommends school and college leavers spend a year in uniform to test whether they enjoy forces life amid efforts to solve a crisis in recruitment. The Strategic Defence Review, which draws on more than 8,000 responses from 1,700 individuals, political parties and organisations, seeks to overhaul the way wars are fought, with a focus on drones, AI and autonomous platforms. Its recommendations have been accepted in full by the Government. Troops numbers are set to be increased – although a detailed timeline has not been set – Britain's aircraft carriers will become 'hybrid' and there will be better use of fighter jets to ensure they are cost effective. The overall aim of the review is to make the army 'ten times more lethal' by 2035. People and education The review puts people at the heart of its 'transformation' of defence. This includes improving recruitment to tackle the hiring crisis, with innovative new ways such as promoting military 'gap years' for school and college leavers. It points to the Australian military's gap years as an 'exciting model' to learn from. Meanwhile, younger pupils will be taught the importance of the British military in school. They will also have lessons on what a career can look like in the Armed Forces, from traditional soldiering to computer coding. Meanwhile, the review suggests that Cadet Forces should be expanded across the country by 30 per cent by 2030, with an ambition to reach 250,000 cadets in the 'longer term'. The number currently stands at 140,000. A major problem with recruitment is how long it takes for people to be signed up. However, the review calls for a focus on 'speed' by 'drastically shortening' the period between application and actual joining. It said this could be solved by being more flexible in medical and fitness standards and shorter commitments that give people a flavour of military careers. A retention crisis has also plagued all three forces. One answer to solve this is introducing flexible working in order to support families. This will work by allowing personnel to 'dial their commitment up and down throughout their career', which is described as a shift from current practice. It calls for greater stability in locations and postings for personnel to be embraced, as well as more options to support home ownership for troops. Whole of society approach The report has called on the British public to 'harbour no illusions about the threats it faces'. It warns that the nature of attacks on the UK will change 'and intensify' which will require a nationwide response. It says that lessons learnt from Ukraine show the need for 'national resilience'. This needs to be a collective response to threats both above and below 'the threshold of an armed attack', which would come from industry, the finance sector, civil society, academia and education. It stresses the importance of 'reconnecting with society'. This will be achieved by promoting a 'national conversation' that raises awareness of the threats to the UK, what the Armed Forces do to deter and protect the nation, and how fundamentally to counter threats to false information that circulates. It warns: 'Decades of fighting wars overseas and shrinking personnel numbers have led to a society with less awareness of defence.' Other suggestions to promote the work of the British military include public engagement days. Drones and AI As John Healey, the Defence Secretary, said in his foreword of the review: ' Drones now kill more people than traditional artillery in the war in Ukraine, and whoever gets new technology into the hands of their Armed Forces the quickest will win.' He added that, with the advance of technology, future battlespaces will be a combination of 'conventional and digital warfighters' owing to drones, AI and autonomous weapons that compliment 'the heavy metal of tanks and artillery'. The review states that the effective use of uncrewed autonomous platforms to create 'agility, lethality, mass and endurance' is crucial to how the forces' strength will be perceived by adversaries - as much as the number of people and equipment it has to its name. The review urges the Government to embrace new technologies that are redefining warfare, including AI, machine learning and data science – all of which improve the quality and speed of decision making and operational effectiveness. It highlights robotics and autonomy and enhanced precision weapons that enable greater accuracy from larger ranges. It also focuses on the importance of directed energy weapons such as DragonFire, hypersonic missiles that travel over five times the speed of sound and space-based capabilities as adversaries focus on developing ways to disrupt military and civilian assets in and from space. Drones and lasers together will be handed a total of £5 billion in new investment. Areas that require particular attention include advances in quantum computing that can reduce reliance on GPS, which is vulnerable to jamming, cyber threats becoming harder to navigate as technology becomes more advanced, and biological threats that can cause 'enormous harm' in the form of new pathogens and other weapons of mass destruction. Maritime The review has committed to creating a ' new hybrid navy' that will build on the Dreadnought and SSN-Aukus submarines, as well as cutting-edge warships and support ships, while transforming the carriers into 'hybrid air wing' vessels that can act as a launch pad for drones as well as aircraft. It also encourages the forces to introduce new autonomous vessels to patrol the North Atlantic and beyond. It calls on the Royal Navy to play a leading and coordinating role in securing undersea pipelines, cables and maritime traffic. It points out that the 'smooth running of daily life and the economy' depends on Critical National Infrastructure not being interfered with and warns: 'Based on adversaries' current doctrine, in the event of major war the UK should expect sub-threshold attacks'. It tells the Government that it must articulate as a priority which elements of UK CNI are 'integral to to sustaining operations and projecting force overseas'. It says that the Navy must move towards working with a mix of uncrewed, crewed and autonomous surface and sub-surface vessels and aircraft, as well as developing the next-generation capabilities such as 12 new nuclear-powered SSN-AUKUS submarines. A total of £15 billion will be invested in new nuclear warheads. In order to deter and defend in the Euro-Atlantic the Navy has been urged to focus on its Atlantic Bastion plan, which works to secure the North Atlantic from a modernising Russian submarine force, and Type 45 destroyers which provide air and missile defence. Land domain While the Army has used advanced simulation to provide effective training, the report warns that personnel must not lose sight of their live fire ability over distances of 100km or more, which 'remains essential to assuring the Army's fighting capability'. Despite the move towards a greater focus on autonomous systems and cyber, it also adds that the Army will continue to need armoured platforms and attack helicopters to 'confront a major state adversary, fighting to take and hold ground', showing that traditional methods of fighting are not obsolete yet. However, it acknowledges that autonomous and uncrewed land and aerial systems are an essential component of land warfare. It is called the 'recce-strike' approach where existing capabilities and technologies are combined with evolving technology. It urges the Army to be 'bolder in its ambition, seeking to increase lethality ten fold'. Air domain The review insists that the RAF keeps up with air evolution, transitioning from crewed combat air platforms to a Future Combat Air System which is a combination of crewed, uncrewed and autonomous platforms. It says new autonomous platforms must be designed to operate in collaboration with the fourth, fifth and future generations of combat aircraft and to be able to operate on the UK's two aircraft carriers. It suggests that to ensure value for money, the new F-35s to be procured should be a combination of both F-35 a and b models. It says further E-7 Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft should be bought when funding permits, and suggests a cost-sharing arrangement with Nato allies as a way to achieve this. It says the current flying training arrangements for fast jets must be 'urgently revised' to optimise capacity and advises that Hawk T1 and Hawk T2 should be replaced with a cost-effective fast jet trainer. It also calls on Brize Norton, the RAF base, to allow commercial facilities to use it should it be unavailable for operations. Space domain The report notes how congested and contested space is becoming, flagging that operational satellite fleets of China and Russia grew by 70 per cent in 2019-21. As a result, it says that defence must 'improve its ability to deter threats to and if necessary protect its interests in space'. It calls on the MoD to invest in the resilience of UK military space systems, focusing on space control, decision advantage and capabilities. It instructs the MoD to seek partners to develop a next-generation, overhead, persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability. It says that by doing this they can warn and track threats in the Euro-Atlantic. Industry The report states that the effectiveness of a military can be measured by how quickly an industry can innovate and bring new technology into operation. The review says that for defence to be fully successful it must 'develop an understanding of the relationship between its military competitiveness and the performance of the defence innovation and industrial base'. It suggests as a starting point that the MoD tracks metrics for the lethality of Armed Forces, productivity within defence and industry and also the national economic impact of defence spending and procurement. It says that at the heart of the transformation of defence should be developing a 'thriving, resilient innovation and industrial base' which can scale innovation and production. The report adds that it is not 'new' to look to better the relationship between defence and industry, but that it has yet to make the 'cultural change' for success.
Telegraph
11 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Spa that banned trans women is forced to apologise
Transgender rights activists have forced a spa to apologise for banning biological men from a steam room session. Beach Box Spa in Brighton was accused of giving in to the 'woke mob' after it said sorry for excluding trans women from the female-only session last Thursday. Owners had originally opted to exclude transgender women from the session to allow female customers to feel safe while relaxing in their swimwear. They later performed a U-turn after facing criticism from transgender activists online. In a message on their website, they said the decision had been 'wrong' and 'goes against everything we believe in'. They also said they 'believe trans women are women and trans men are men.' The firm is also now holding a new 'queer sauna session' from Thursday and said its staff may require further 'LGBTQ+ inclusion training.' Customers accused the spa of ignoring the law in light of the Supreme Court's ruling that transgender women are not legally women. One said: 'This self-flagellation over supporting women's right to safety, privacy and dignity is sickening.' Another customer pointed out that the business had opted to 'alienate and offend women' rather than take into account the court ruling. The row began after an Instagram follower asked if a transgender woman could attend, only to be told: 'This is for cis women.' Cis, or cisgender, is a term used to describe someone whose gender identity aligns with their biological sex. India Willoughby, a transgender newsreader and vocal critic of JK Rowling, accused the spa of 'excluding trans women from women's spaces'. One critic said: 'I absolutely loved your saunas but your decision to exclude trans women is incredibly disappointing. 'Your business operates in a queer city. I won't be using a space that excludes my trans siblings. Please do better than this.' 'Against everything we believe in' The full apology from Beach Box said: 'We got it wrong and we are so incredibly sorry. 'At Beach Box, we've always aimed to create an inclusive, welcoming space for everyone-regardless of gender, identity, background or lived experience. 'But this week, we made a mistake that caused hurt and disappointment, particularly within our trans communities. 'We want to say, with sincerity – we are truly sorry. 'We now understand that promoting or hosting a cis-only event goes against everything we believe in. 'It was wrong, and we take full responsibility for the harm this has caused. One of our comments on Instagram added to that harm, and we deeply regret it. 'We want Beach Box to continue to be a space where everyone feels welcome and we'll keep doing the work to make sure it feels that way.'
