More women going into trades find carpentry, automotive repair satisfying
Published Monday November 2nd, 2009
KELOWNA, B.C. - As the only women on construction sites Casey King and Sarah Rea have heard their fair share of whistles, catcalls, lewd and crude comments.
"You have to have a thick skin," said Rea, an apprentice electrician who attended the recent Empowering Women in Trades conference at Kelowna's Okanagan College.
"I either ignore the whistles or whistle right back," continues Rea, who is 5 1/2 months pregnant.
"It usually calms down once the guys know I'm there to work and I do a good job."
King, a carpentry apprentice, puts men behaving badly in their place right away.
"Women who work in the trades have to be a particular personality," she said.
"They have to be prepared for some harassment and have it not bother them. I tell them I'm there to work and then proceed to do a great job. And I never date a guy from work."
The Empowering Women in Trades event brought together women apprentices, tradespeople, employers and college officials.
"We're running the $1.3-million Women in Trades pilot project to get more women into the trades," explained college trades and apprenticeship program administrator Nancy Darling.
"Since March we've enrolled 135 women in trades programs and expect to have 200 by the time the pilot closes in March 2010."
The pilot will go as far as paying for the woman's tuition, books, tools, clothing and even a transportation allowance.
However, the pilot project is just one part of a comprehensive plan to get women into the trades, where the money is almost always better than the secretarial pool.
A decade ago, only four per cent of the enrolment in trades programs - including the traditionally female-heavy hairdressing and culinary trades courses - were women.
Today women make up 25 per cent of the enrolment, including trades that were previously men-only such as carpentry, electrics, welding, automotive repair and heavy equipment.
"I actually started out in hairdressing school," said King, 23, with a laugh.
"But I didn't like the setting, the politics. I actually prefer to work with men rather than women."
As a third-year carpentry apprentice working for Bayline Construction in Coquitlam, B.C., making concrete forms, King likes working with her hands, the sense of accomplishment when giant foundations are formed and making good money.
Third-year apprentice electrician Rea is taking a break from her work at Horizon Electric in Kelowna because of her pregnancy.
"I love working with my hands and with tools," she said.
"It's satisfying to wire a house or put in all the data lines for a business."
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