Program helping women break into trades

NSCC campuses offer free career introduction for women wanting to break down barriers to employment

Statistics Canada suggests women only represent 6.4 per cent of occupations in trades, transport and construction in Canada. Photo: Courtesy yooperann

A carpenter, welder, engineer and truck driver are answers young children may give when asked: What do I want to be when I grow up? This might not be surprising, but what is for many, is young women give these answers too.

Donna Douglas, a recent graduate of the Women's Economic Equality (WEE) Society, and now a truck driver, says on the organization's website that being a mom of five was initially her full-time job. The idea of pursuing her desire to be a truck driver had seemed far-fetched and unattainable.

Thanks to the partnering of the NSCC with the WEE Society and the Hypatia Association, Women Unlimited was created. They started a program to address the difficulties women face in obtaining work in trades and technology.

Statistics Canada figures suggest women in Nova Scotia earn only 61 per cent of men's salaries on average. Also, women only represent 6.4 per cent of the total occupations in trades, transport and construction in Canada in 2009; only 0.4 per cent higher than statistics taken 10 years prior.

Carla Harder, program co-ordinator for the WEE Society, explains "a lot of guys get that informal apprenticeship by hanging out with their uncles or their dads." This program "gives women a chance to figure out what it is to develop those skills."

In classrooms and shops at four NSCC campuses, the free 14-week Career Decision Making Program gives women exposure to over 40 different trades. After the 14 weeks they can pursue further education to be fully qualified in a particular skill or trade most appealing to them.

A step in the right direction

Dalhousie professor Patti Doyle-Bedwell says programs such as Women Unlimited are good stepping-stones. Doyle-Bedwell chaired the Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the status of women for eight years and was a representative on the Canadian NGO team in 2000 at the UN in Geneva on women's rights.

She says women in Nova Scotia need more government assistance such as longer paid maternity leave, more subsidies for education, better transportation and more awareness of women's issues in society. She adds, "women carry the majority load of childcare, homecare, elder care, parental care and I think that's a really big barrier."

Women Unlimited also provides job shadowing with potential employers, career counseling, resources for financial assistance and support for child care.

"All you have to do is give women a chance," said Harder. She has seen the transition from women starting the program to working at the shipyards and working as electricians.

The partnership with NSCC benefits the school in return. Merly Prentt, site co-ordinator for the NSCC IT Campus in Dartmouth, says "the enrolment of female students in any trades and technology programs has increased tremendously since we started the program in 2007."

NSCC currently has 50 women training. Earlier this year, 38 women graduated from the program in the HRM. Of these women, 22 continued their education in trades and technology at NSCC.

Administrators at Women Unlimited write proposals each year to earn grants to cover the program's cost. Nearly a dozen groups help fund the program including Service Canada, the Nova Scotia Departments of Community Services, the Canadian Women's Foundation, the Halifax Regional Municipality, Michelin and Composites Atlantic Limited.

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