How women are excelling in male-dominated fields
28 October 2025
Around the world, women are breaking down barriers and smashing patriarchal norms, stepping into roles once reserved for men and reshaping what power looks like. True progress happens when we all support women and help to dismantle the systems that hold them back.
Anifa from Mozambique has defied societal expectations and stepped into a male-dominated field to train as a metalworker. Photo: Dilayla Romeo/ActionAid
The phrase “women in male-dominated fields” took off as a TikTok trend, women humorously sharing moments where they embrace habits or attitudes often seen as “typically male.” A woman fixing her own car. Another taking herself out for a solo dinner. It was funny and clever but it hinted at something much bigger.
Beyond the meme, the reality is powerful: women everywhere are stepping into spaces society once said weren’t for them.
Across the world, ActionAid works alongside women who are breaking down these barriers every day, not for fads or trends, but for lasting change and a fairer future.
Take Anifa, from Mozambique.
Defying social expectations, she trained to become a metalworker - a field usually dominated by men in Mozambique.
At 23, Anifa travelled over an hour each day to attend a three-month metalwork course at Alberto Cassimo Institute of Vocational Training and Labor Studies (IFPELAC), an ActionAid partner in Nacala, Mozambique. Inspired by her brother, she was one of just six women in a class of 30.
Anifa has learned to craft gates, chairs, beds, and other metal products and is putting her new skills to use in her family’s workshop.
Over the course, Anifa learned to craft gates, chairs, beds, and more, gaining skills she describes as “rewarding and valuable.”
Today, she’s putting those skills into practice in her family’s metal workshop, working alongside her brother to grow the business and build a future she can shape herself.
So far, over 800 women in Mozambique have taken part in similar trainings, gaining the skills to earn a stable income and build sustainable livelihoods. These women are doing more than just learning trades; they’re challenging what power looks like, and who gets to hold it.
While stories like Anifa’s show what’s possible, they also reveal how much harder women have to fight to get there.
For every woman who breaks through, many more are still held back by systems built on inequality, from unpaid care work and low wages to limited access to land, training, and opportunity.
That’s why at ActionAid, we’re not only celebrating women’s success, we’re working to change the conditions that make that success harder to achieve in the first place.
We campaign for tax justice, so governments can fund essential public services like childcare, healthcare and education. We push for affordable childcare, so women can work, study and lead freely. We fight for access to land and resources, giving women the means to build independence and stability. And we demand protections for women in informal work, so every woman can earn a living with safety and dignity.
When women have equal access to opportunities and when systems support them instead of being a barrier, entire communities thrive.
Countless women are still held back by the systems around them. You can help change that by donating to our Christmas Appeal. Find out more below about how we work with women and girls at ActionAid.
