May 2026

Women and gender minorities remain drastically underrepresented in on-the-tools trade roles in Aotearoa, despite industry growth and interventions. See Structural Analysis of Gender Diversity and Minority Participation in the Aotearoa/New Zealand Trades Industry for the complete desk review.

Research and consultation conducted through Cahoots’ strategy development project confirms that the barriers are not about capability; they are structural and cultural. Key barriers include exclusionary workplace norms, weak accountability and reporting pathways, inadequate site infrastructure and PPE, and the high attrition rates driven largely by the same employment factors.[1][2][3]

Outside the trades, women and gender minorities experience exclusion from practical skills and their associated spaces; DIY, woodwork, hardware stores etc.[2][3] In response to these experiences, Cahoots Workshop was created to operate as a protected, culturally safe space where women and gender minorities can develop practical capability, confidence, and belonging. This creates immediate community-level change (practical agency in everyday life) and a broad base of skilled participants that forms the platform from which future tradies emerge.

Recent community consultation sharpened this delivery; the strongest demands being for:

• Workshop availability and supported practice (drop-in hours where participants can ask questions while building skills)
• Specific skill-building classes with adequate workshop access to practise and refine.[4]

The same consultation also reinforced that cost is a primary barrier for the marginalised community Cahoots serves, particularly when unemployment/underemployment and intersectional constraints are present. In response, Cahoots Workshop has reduced barriers by removing memberships.[4]

Community feedback shows that Cahoots Workshop is working at the community level.[3][4] However, community-level capability alone will not significantly shift trades workforce representation because the industry environment remains a significant deterrent and attrition driver.[1][3]

Through community consultation, industry assessment, and development work supported by BCITO, J R McKenzie Trust, the Centre for Social Impact, and Project Jumpstart, Cahoots has developed a strategic plan to broaden impact and create transformational change.

Cahoots’ strategy is to operate as an integrated ecosystem:

• Cahoots Workshop: A protected space providing community empowerment and skill development. The Workshop continues to grow a large base of empowered, skilled women and gender minorities which provides visibility, attraction, and also provides a talent pipeline for the trades (inc. Cahoots Tradies).
• Cahoots Tradies: A social enterprise delivering trade services by women and gender minority tradies. Tradies is a protected organisation exclusively for women and gender minorities, it is culture-first, trauma-informed and provides low-barrier employment. Cahoots Tradies reinforces the visible normalisation mechanism of Cahoots Workshop and contributes to attraction of new members. Tradies creates a model for inclusion and also generates revenue to sustain the Cahoots Ecosystem.

This ecosystem provides a powerful intervention capable of delivering real change to an industry with a persistent and extreme gender-equity problem. This is a holistic ecosystem intervention that is scalable to new geographic areas, facilitating deep, long-lasting and transformational change.[1][5]

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Acknowledgements

This strategy could not have been developed without the generous support and foresight of BCITO who funded the initial stages of this strategy work. Similarly, J R McKenzie Trust saw potential and funded further development through the Centre for Social Innovation and Project Jumpstart.

The Cahoots board and community would like to express our sincere thanks for the vision and commitment of these organisations.

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