"It took a lot perseverance to find this [carpentry] apprenticeship," the 25-year-old said, who discovered her love for building things during the pandemic lockdowns.

"I had a lot of knockbacks in the initial stages of me trying to get an apprenticeship - there's a lot of backward sexism in the building industry."

"Not here, never from here," she added, in reference to Bannister Craft, a Ballarat-based company specialising in eco-industrial design shop fits. "I've had nothing but support from the guys here."

When Murphy expanded on her pre-apprenticeship experience, it emerged there was one potential employer who, after showing initial interest in Murphy, rebuffed her application on the footing she would probably fall pregnant with another apprentice.

Others, she said, condescended to her, referencing limitations she would - in their view - inevitably bring to the profession as a woman.

None of this is news, of course. Nationwide, women comprise just two per cent of labourers in the construction industry. And while this fares marginally better than the United Kingdom, which stands at one per cent, it's still less than the United States' 4.5 per cent.

Richard Crawford, who co-founded Bannister Craft with his father, Peter Crawford, over 20 years ago, said the ingrained sexism underlying much of the male-dominated industry rendered it an uninviting profession for women.

"There's still a lot of hindrances as far as the culture of the building industry is concerned," he said.

"Some [industry groups] are pushing for more female apprentices, but it's really down to the individual business owners to help with that."

It's a view shared by Crawford's father, Peter, who said he'd noticed little to no change within the industry over the last 20 years.

"Women are just as good, often better, than their male counterparts, but many employers don't realise that," he said. "The only way [this] can change is to have more women in the workforce and a positive, safe outlook."

Yet the primary difficulty with this approach, he explained, is that it's an issue which invariably languishes towards the bottom of employers' priorities, leaving it to determined women, like Murphy, to force a cultural shift.

Drawing on her own experience, Murphy recommended women interested in pursuing a career in a trade consider a 'try a trade' program or, better still, opt for a pre-apprenticeship.

"If you've thought about [a trade], just take the bull by the horns and do a pre-apprenticeship," she said, pointing out it was through a pre-apprenticeship in furniture-making that she discovered her passion for carpentry.

"It's a 15-week course and it's non-committal - so you're not letting down your employer if you decide it's not for you.

"Without it, I probably wouldn't be here now, doing what I love."

Murphy is currently in the Sunshine Coast with the Bannister Craft team, helping fit out another eco-industrial design shop. In the first year of her apprenticeship alone, she travelled to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide doing the same.

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