Many youth employment programmes struggle to achieve gender parity in enrolment rates. This is especially true for programmes that focus on teaching skills often associated with male-dominated sectors, such as construction. The Youth Inclusive Entrepreneurial Development Initiative for Employment (YIEDIE) consortium, which forms part of the Youth Forward initiative, provides training opportunities for young people in Ghana’s construction sector, and has invested considerable effort into attracting young women. 

This briefing note provides an overview of experience and best practice from employment and training initiatives that have sought to encourage young women to take up work in male-dominated sectors. It also describes YIEDIE’s efforts in this area to determine which have been the most useful for its young female participants, before drawing out recommendations for future programming.

This briefing note is published by the Youth Forward Learning Partnership, led by the ODI's Research and Policy in Development programme, with Development Research and Training in Uganda; and with Participatory Development Associates in Ghana. Youth Forward supports young people in Ghana and Uganda to get jobs, grow their businesses and access finance to expand opportunities available to them. The Learning Partnership works to develop an evidence-informed understanding of the needs of young people and how the initiative can best meet those needs.