Women's Affairs Minister Pansy Wong is encouraging young women to enter into trades and apprenticeships, saying it is a viable option for all New Zealanders.

Mrs Wong today attended Women in Trades Week in Marlborough - a week long push to encourage young women in the region to take up a trade - and says more similar initiatives are needed to encourage women into trades.

"It is incredible that in this day and age 99 percent of builders, plumbers and electricians in this country are still men," Mrs Wong says.

"We must work together as a nation to break down occupational segregation and to ensure that women are not limited in their choices simply because of their gender.

"As Minister of Women's Affairs I want to ensure that young women are able to exercise real choices throughout their lives and that they don't limit themselves from exercising those choices because of gender stereotypes."

Research conducted by the Ministry of Women's Affairs has revealed that women are reluctant to enter into trades because of gender stereotypes they encounter at school and home.

"For far too long apprenticeships and trades have predominantly been considered ‘men's work', but we live in an age where there is no such thing as ‘men's work', there is no such thing as ‘women's work', there is just work. There is no reason why a woman can't take up a trade and enjoy the good wage and job security that goes with it," Mrs Wong says.