AS traditional industries struggle to achieve adequate gender balance, two women are making strides at a Wrexham business.

In the spotlight for International Women's Day (March 8) are Lucy Thomas and Lauren Millington, both rising stars at Hydro Wrexham.

The company has 32,000 employees, but only 22 percent are women. In Wrexham, the company has 59 employees where only 13 percent are female. As part of the company's strategy, Hydro has set the ambition to increase the number of female employees to 25 percent by 2025.

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Lucy, from Wrexham and has been with Hydro for five-and-a-half years, joining as a graduate from the University of Manchester, where she studied International Business and Economics.

The 26-year-old said: "I found out about the job during the last year of my studies. I had not heard about the company before and knew nothing about the aluminium industry or scrap, so I was a bit sceptical. When I told my family I was going for an interview for a scrap buyer they laughed."

"The interview process was good. I remember Sue Bairstow (former managing director at Hydro in Wrexham, now retired) asked what I thought kept her awake at night, and I then answered something like worrying about customers or suppliers. Sue said it was 'safety of my employees'. That has stayed with me."

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Lauren Millington, from Flintshire, and has been with Hydro for eight months. She joined straight from college, having studied engineering, and is now on a two-year apprenticeship contract training to become a maintenance engineer.

The 19-year-old said: "Even though I had not heard of the company before, I liked what I saw in the job application because the role looked interesting and varied. I did my research on the company website. I liked the fact that it was a global company and the role included training on multiple skills rather than just one skill.

"I expected the industry to be mostly male as there were only four women, including myself, in my class at college.

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"I like the people in the plant and the company really looks after us. The fact that we recently celebrated 2,000 days of operating without an accident is a testament to everyone's commitment and dedication to safety."

Having women in key management positions has been a motivating factor for Lucy.

She added: "Even though the perception is that it is a male dominant industry, it's great to see women in key senior positions in the company. Our CEO, Hilde Merete Aasheim, and our head of recycling, Ingrid Guddal, are both women. It's nice to know what is possible to achieve in Hydro as a woman and climbing the ladder is possible.

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"I don't feel intimidated even though I'm in a male industry. My confidence has increased, and I have built lots of strong relationships in and outside the company. I know who I can turn to for help and I always feel very supported, especially with my career ambitions.

"It's also inspiring that these women have shown it's possible to have a family and a career. I can see a longevity to my career here."

Lauren added: "The women in Hydro, like Lucy, are an inspiration, and for me having work experience here is great. I now feel ambitious to continue my career here and to move up the ranks."

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On what can be done to improve the gender balance, Lauren said: "We need to start by targeting schools and colleges, and also change the perception of the industry."

Lucy added: "Women like Lauren and myself need to be more visible, also, provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) has to improve as most of it is designed for men. We need to make sure that changing facilities are adequate and companies need to make sure family friendly policies are extend to all workers. This means whether it's in the factory, in the office, male or female."

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Wayne Clifton, managing director at Hydro Wrexham said: "Both Lucy and Lauren have done tremendously well for us since they began here, and we are very proud to have them with us. We have a strong family feeling here at Hydro, where our aim is to take care of and develop our employees, and be a workplace where everyone can come as they are.

"We target an inclusive work environment where both men and woman can succeed and thrive."

He added: "We have started to target schools and colleges in our people strategy, and want to talk to schools to show what this industry is about and what we do, as well as improving our facilities to improve changing rooms and add more facilities for women."