Labour Minister urges women to become multi-skilled

Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton, MP, is urging women to start thinking outside the box, and not let society determine the kind of jobs they should be doing.

The Minister was at the time addressing residents during a recent Cabinet outreach to Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam). He said it is important for women to emancipate themselves from thoughts that they must only work in a particular field.  He said he is pushing for young persons, especially women to be multi-skilled.

“I want when I am doing heavy duty equipment operator programme in Region Two, there are women in the programme… that is where the money is at. I am saying to women you have to start thinking differently, and I am encouraging people, who do training in the Region, every programme that is supposed to be male dominated programme, they have to ensure women are in the programme.”

The minister also urged the women to take advantage of the other programmes offered by Government, to qualify themselves.

Since taking office, the Ministry of Labour has made training a priority across the country, especially for young people. To fulfil the mandate, steps have been put in place to train over 35,000 people.

Every region now has its own Board of Industrial Training (BIT) Officer who works with residents to craft training programmes based on the needs of their respective communities.

Recently, the labour ministry donated a number of electrical sewing machines and other materials to women in Matthews Ridge, Region One.

In August 2021, the ministry allocated a plot of land in Mahdia, Region Eight for the construction of the town’s first-ever industrial training centre.