Case Study: Occupational Segregation - Omagh College

A cross-border partnership project led by Omagh College has developed and delivered training to support and develop enterprise and management skills amongst women working within the construction industry in counties Cavan, Donegal, Fermanagh, Monaghan, Sligo and Tyrone. The project targets the self-employed, owners or managers within SMEs, and members of family owned businesses. Three-quarters of the project funding came from the European Union.

The partners used their own networks and other agencies to identify firms and individuals in the targeted groups and then made personal contact to distribute a summary of the project and questionnaire to elicit support for the initiative. Initially, the College undertook research to identify training needs, barriers to participation and gender issues in relation to management tasks. The findings were used to develop the Women in Construction multi-media training programme. Training was tailored to the needs of each participant and her business and advice on follow-up training and qualifications was also provided.

Courses under the training programme included health and safety, accounting, project manager, basic computers, web design, legal studies and a variety of line management courses.

64 women participated in the two-year project that was completed in October 2006.

The programme was very successful, enabling women to supplement their skills and build confidence. Working out in rural areas in family businesses, many of the women had experienced isolation and one of the main programme benefits reported was the networking aspect of taking part.