Callie Hagan is the only woman in her TAFE course, but it doesn't bother her. She is doing what she loves.
"I'm one of three girls and Dad never told us we can't do stuff blokes can, we could do whatever we want," she said.
Like 25,000 students in the past 15 months, the Hunter 17-year-old has started her fee-free Certificate III in plumbing at Maitland TAFE.
"I like the physical work, I like not just sitting down," she said. "And we have lots of challenges that we have to figure out and work as a team."
Ms Hagan grew up around plumbers, although she never thought she'd follow in their footsteps.
Once she completes her apprenticeship and certificate, she'll be a third-generation plumber, after her dad and her grandfather.
"Dad did his apprenticeship with Pop when he was about 17, and now Dad has started up his own business and I'm an apprentice there now," Ms Hagan said.
When Ms Hagan left school she hadn't considered going into plumbing.
"I had never really thought of it, and then one day he [her dad] asked if I wanted to go to work with him," she said.
"It just sort of happened that I started going to work with him every day."
She said she changed her mind after getting to experience interesting jobs and meeting different people.
Ms Hagan said she definitely felt like the industry needed more people.
"Everywhere is looking for more tradespeople and apprentices," she said.
"You don't have to do it forever, but you can get your apprenticeship and then go do something and then you have something to fall back on," she said.
From January 1, 2025, to March 2026, the government surpassed its target of 20,000 enrolments in its free TAFE Construction programs with just under 25,000 enrolments.
In NSW, the government passed its target of 20 per cent, with more than 7067 enrolments in the program.
Women make up only 12 per cent of the construction industry, and less than 4 per cent of on-site roles, the NSW government says. In plumbing, specifically, only 3 per cent of the entire Australian workforce is female, Master Plumbers of NSW says.
Ms Hagan was hoping more women would enter the plumbing workforce, including her younger sister.
