During World War II, thanks to the exodus of men to the frontlines, it was common to find lady folk working in skilled technical jobs like mechanics, electricians and painters in Australia.

When the war ended, however, many women returned from their jobs as munitions factory workers and drivers and farmers, some begrudgingly, to traditional 'women's roles' — domestic duties, raising children, nursing — leaving men to once again dominate the workforce, particularly the trades.

Today, the gender imbalance lingers, and in the past 10 years alone has gotten worse, with dramatically fewer women than men embarking on and continuing traditional trades careers in 2016.

It's a problem Fi Shewring is trying to address by reminding us of the history of women's involvement in the trades. Talking about it, she says, is critical if we are to shift the stubborn, sexist attitudes towards women preventing change.

"Women's history is often forgotten," Ms Shewring, the president of Supporting And Linking Tradeswomen (SALT), told ABC News. "It's not considered significant."

SALT conference honours history of women in trades

Ms Shewring, a painter and decorator by trade and a TAFE teacher, will this week launch the inaugural SALT Tradeswomen Australia Conference, for which tradeswomen, apprentices and policy makers from around the country will gather in Wollongong, New South Wales, to honour the women who worked in trades during the war.

"It's also to give current tradeswomen a sense of their own history, because most of them don't know it either," Ms Shewring said. "Everybody thinks women are only just starting to work in the trades, but it's not true."

SALT president Fi Shewring (centre) says girls don't realise they can do tradeswork. ( Facebook: SALT )

SALT, which Ms Shewring founded in 2009 as a support network for tradeswomen and apprentices, is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to increase women's representation in trades by running awareness and advocacy campaigns, working with schools, and running skills workshops that teach women how to use tools.

"Girls don't realise they can do this work," said Ms Shewring, who rejects the popular term 'lady tradie' because she feels it puts an unnecessary focus on gender. "Saying 'lady tradie' has a connotation of not being a full tradie ... Jobs shouldn't have a gender," she said.

But that is only part of the reason why so few women pursue and persist with trade careers; many girls today grow up believing they can do anything — unless, of course, it's a male-dominated trade occupation.

Why don't women pursue trades careers?

Indeed, a 2015 report by Quay Connection, commissioned by the NSW Skills Board, found that women make up less than 10 per cent of total applicants for traditional trade apprenticeships, while few employers consider taking on female apprentices.

The report cited many reasons for this, including persistent stereotypes that trades work is men's work, low visibility of female role models in trades industries, and low awareness among young women of career opportunities for women in trades.

Girls at Orange High School at a trades skills workshop provided by Supporting and Linking Tradeswomen (SALT) during a tour of western NSW. ( Source: Supporting and Linking Tradeswomen Facebook Page )

Employer attitudes and workplace cultures also act as significant barriers, with almost half of employers surveyed for the report indicating they didn't think women were physically capable of doing the job, while 42 per cent believed women would require more support in training.

Significantly, almost every female apprentice who took part in focus group surveys said they had experienced bullying, discrimination or harassment on the job, though many were reluctant to report it out of fear of retribution.

"There is a huge undertone about sex, lots of sexual tension ... but you can't care about it," said one apprentice. "If you complain, you get on their wrong side. The harassment just gets pushed under the carpet."

The number of women in trades is tanking

A new report out last week by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency shows that the proportion of women working in Construction, Australia's most male-dominated industry, has fallen from 14.8 per cent in 1995 to 12 per cent in 2015.

Meanwhile, the proportion of women Labourers (which includes cleaners, factory process workers and food preparers) dropped from 36.9 per cent in 1995 to 33.6 per cent in 2015, and the proportion of women Machinery Operators and Drivers also shrank from 14.1 per cent in 1995 to just 9.2 per cent in 2015.

Strategies that encourage women and girls into trades need to be backed up by strategies to keep them, said WGEA Director Libby Lyons. ( Pexels.com )

And yet numerous government and non-government strategies have sought to boost women's representation and retention in trades.

In 2012 the New South Wales government launched its Women in Trades initiative to "increase the number of women working in male-dominated trades".

It nurtures multiple partnerships with industry, local councils and community groups and funds several projects designed to recruit and support tradeswomen, including one with SALT.

However, four years on, the dwindling proportion of women in many trades suggests such strategies are not particularly effective.

Trying, but not hard enough

Women NSW Director Natasha de Silva conceded that more can and should be done to encourage women into trade occupations.

"While women's share of the workforce in many technical and professional occupations has increased over time, the number of women working in trade occupations has been decreasing," Ms de Silva told ABC News.

"The business case for a diverse workforce is well established, however, companies' verbal commitment to increasing the number of female employees is not sufficient."

Workplace Gender Equality Agency Director Libby Lyons said: "Strategies that encourage women and girls into trades or other male-dominated fields need to be backed up by strategies to keep them.

"This means offering inclusive workplaces with respectful cultures, opportunities to work flexibly as well as support women to return to work after having children."

WGEA report doesn't tell the whole story

But Ms Shewring argued the WGEA report was misleading because it did not reflect the progress that has been made to improve women's representation in the trades since 1995.

"There have been significant changes since [SALT] began in 2009," Ms Shewring said.

As for all the women attending the SALT conference this week?

"I hope they gain an understanding of how [women in trades] is not new, [that] this has been done before," she said.

"[We need] a shift in society thinking to something that isn't so tempered with unconscious bias ... that treats women with respect."