Many related Google search queries have seen dramatic increases in volume. For example, ‘lady plumber near me’ (+450%), ‘lady painter and decorator near me’ (+125%) and ‘female carpenter near me’ (+100%) have all seen triple digit year on year percentage growth in the number of homeowners searching for them.

Currently, only 4% of the overall trades industry is made up of women. However, this statistic is skewed by one particular trade – gardeners and landscapers. Excluding gardeners and landscapers, it drops to 2%.

The trade with by far the largest percentage of women is gardening and landscaping at 17%, followed by some distance with painting and decorating at 4%.

Bricklaying, roofing, and tiling have the lowest representation of women. According to ONS data, there are less than 500 female bricklayers, roofers, and tilers respectively across the UK. This is less than 1% for each trade.

Based on ONS data for full-time employee jobs, women within the skilled construction and building trades sector were paid £536 per week in 2022 compared to £600 for men.

Based on this statistic, females earn 10.6% less than their male counterparts or £64 per week less.

The three regions with the highest representation of tradeswomen are the West Midlands (where 4.40% of tradespeople are female), London (2.98%) and the South West (2.14%).

In the East Midlands, North East, Northern Ireland, Scotland, South East and Wales, less than 1% of tradespeople are female.

When it comes to the demand, 11% of female homeowners say they’d feel more comfortable hiring a tradeswoman.

Hiring a tradeswoman is becoming more common, with 26% of respondents in the survey indicating that they have hired a tradeswoman before.

Almost all (96%) of the respondents indicated they’d be happy to hire a tradeswoman.

Apprenticeship enrolment shows increasing demand from women. Between 2017 and 2022, the number of women starting construction-related apprenticeships each year has increased from 1,060 to 1,770. Overall, trade apprenticeship demand from females has almost doubled in the last five years.