CASE
Boss Ladies Europe triumphs at EuroSkills2025
September 2025
This case is part of Divers’ transformation project, Boss Ladies Europe. Supported by:
Boss Ladies Europe brings together technically skilled women as ambassadors in a trans-European community. Here, they share their passion, talent, and professional pride. All of them belong to the very small percentage that women currently represent within Europe’s technical skilled workforce.
At EuroSkills in Herning 2025, they stood side by side with Divers’ Danish sister corps – Boss Ladies – on a shared mission to drive change and invite everyone with the ability and the desire to join the technical skilled trades.
Photo: Lasse Skov
European Role Models
Boss Ladies Europe is a community of technically skilled women from across Europe who challenge outdated gender stereotypes and lead the way as women in traditionally male-dominated trades and industries.
From electricians to carpenters, and from Slovenia to Germany, the European ambassadors represent a wide diversity of both professions and nationalities. All of them are talents that Europe urgently needs.
The think tank Europa estimates that by 2030, Europe will have 6.2 million fewer skilled workers across the continent. In the professions facing the most severe labour shortages, women are significantly underrepresented. According to figures from EURES, out of total employment in 2022, only 4% of welders, 2% of carpenters, and 1% of electricians in the EU were women.
To reverse decades of stagnation, Boss Ladies Europe is creating a new narrative around traditionally male-dominated skilled trades, demonstrating that a highly skilled craftsperson is defined by talent and passion – not by gender.
The Boss Ladies Embassy
The European ambassadors stood shoulder to shoulder with the Danish Boss Ladies when the prestigious EuroSkills competition took place in Herning in September 2025.
At EuroSkills, the top young skilled talents compete to become the best in their trade. Alongside the competitions, a comprehensive skills experience unfolded, welcoming 100,000 visitors ranging from schoolchildren to top-level politicians.
This was where the Boss Ladies Embassy was located – a space that invited visitors to take part in fun and eye-opening activities, run and facilitated by European and Danish Boss Ladies Ambassadors. A daily highlight was a hands-on workshop led by the ambassadors, where especially school pupils could try their hand at being thatchers, carpenters, electricians, and mechanics.
The Boss Ladies Embassy quickly became a natural meeting place for professionals, schools, organisations, and policymakers who wish to promote greater diversity in future Skills competitions and among Europe’s future skilled workforce.
The Mission Continues
EuroSkills 2025 in Herning marked the starting point of a European community that continues to grow and has already made its mark across several parts of Europe.
Both before and after the event, tailored in-depth collaborations were rolled out with the national Skills secretariats in Germany, France, England, and Poland. These included country-specific analyses identifying how each nation can work strategically with diversity going forward. Boss Ladies Europe also shared insights and experiences with the secretariat of EuroSkills 2027 in Düsseldorf, ensuring that diversity will also be embedded in the next European Championships.
Boss Ladies Europe has also resonated on the international stage. The project participated in the WorldSkills International General Assembly and Conference in Dubrovnik in October 2025, where it shared methods and findings with the aim of inspiring WorldSkills International to further develop its ED&I strategy. Concrete examples were presented showing how strategic ambitions can be translated into action within the Skills movement, with the goal that in the future, we will see more technically skilled women standing on the podiums.