The women who come to Women Unlimited are struggling.

) Angie Rollins controls traffic at a construction site on Fenwick Street in Halifax. A Nova Scotia Community College program is helping women get better jobs in construction and other trades.

Many are single mothers or taking care of elderly parents. They are the breadwinners for their families, says Tracey Thomas, the program's operations manager.

Run through the Nova Scotia Community College, Women Unlimited helps women find employment in the trades. "We're going to change the workforce," says Thomas.

Janet McGuire, one of 38 women who graduated from the program in June, now studies electrical construction at the college. She dreams of a job as an electrician that would allow her to get off income assistance and provide for her five-year old daughter, Mackenzie.

"It would be great for my life because I would be able to buy a house. I would be able to live comfortably and not worry about bills."

The trade sector has the biggest share of employment - 17 per cent - in Nova Scotia. But a survey by the Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women in 2005 found only 5.3 per cent of trade workers are women.

During the 14-week course, Women Unlimited helps women get their safety certification, and offers them a rundown on male-dominated trades, such as carpentry, welding, heavy-duty mechanics and automotive repair.

This is the program's third year in Halifax. So far more than 100 women have graduated. Last term, 170 women applied for only 45 spots split between the IT campus in Halifax and the Akerley campus in Dartmouth.

McGuire says she liked the program because it allowed her to focus on a trade she found engaging.

Women Unlimited paid for daycare for her daughter and gave McGuire money for transportation. Women Unlimited gets its funding from different groups. The big contributors are the Canadian Women's Foundation, the Nova Scotia Department of Labour and Workforce Development and Status of Women Canada, which donated more than $800,000 this summer.

A program catered specifically to women is essential to increase the number of women in non-traditional roles, Thomas says.

She points to a sexist attitude ingrained in the culture of hard trades.

It's a culture McGuire is all too familiar with. She attended a truck-driving school but left because she felt an instructor was bullying her and being overly harsh in assessments of her work. "I just couldn't deal with it anymore."

McGuire wanted to return to the trades. She heard about Women Unlimited through income assistance and decided that it offered the support she needed. "They're always there to listen," she says.

In addition to job training, Women Unlimited gives talks on subjects such as sexual health, conflict-resolution and self-confidence. It was that caring environment that carried her through the program, she says.

"It shows women that they're able to do what they want to."

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