Fortunately, times are changing and an increasing number of women have been finding their way into the vast trades industries. We caught up with a few here at Camosun to find out why they\u2019ve chosen the path they have.<\/p>\n
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At Camosun College, the Women in Trades Training (WITT) program offers two Trade Sampling Programs, with funded tuition for eligible participants. The 12-week programs are designed to present an introductory path to women who are interested in pursuing a career in trades but don\u2019t know where to start.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Camosun WITT program coordinator Sarah-Jayne Roe wants Camosun to be known as a place of hope for women in trades.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the most important things about having the trades exploration program for women is that it\u2019s a safe space for women to come in and try new things and not feel out of place,\u201d says Roe. \u201cAnd they are all kind of coming in from the same perspective, so it\u2019s students who were totally green to the trades, totally new to the trades, and they can kind of all go in together.\u201d<\/p>\n As the main contact person for the women who are not yet sure what kind of trades they are interested in, or if they even want to go into trades, Roe acknowledges that this may not be an obvious decision to make.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt all comes down to the fact that they may not have had the opportunity to try different trades in the past,\u201d says Roe. \u201cThey may not be so comfortable to go into it.\u201d<\/p>\n Currently enrolled in the Plumbing and Pipe Trades Foundations certificate, Danelle Campbell began her studies at Camosun by taking the WITT sampling program.<\/p>\n \u201cTo start off, I was just open to anything,\u201d she says. \u201cI wanted to try it all, but to begin with I said, \u2018Yeah, I will try anything, probably, except plumbing\u2014I don\u2019t think that\u2019s for me.\u2019 And then I did [the WITT sampling program] and I was like, \u2018Oh, yeah\u2014this is totally it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Likewise, the WITT sampling program was Heidi Waugh\u2019s starting point to get into the Sheet Metal and Metal Fabrication Foundations program this January. Waugh took the marine focus stream of the program and now she aims to complete a dual apprenticeship by later pursuing a Marine Service Technician certification.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough the WITT at Camosun we went for a few tours to different shipyards and different marine sites,\u201d says Waugh. \u201cWe found a few shops that I really fell in love with, and that\u2019s how I ultimately found my desire to do sheet metal and work around boats.\u201d<\/p>\n Madison Briche has also been in the Sheet Metal and Metal Fabrication Foundation program since January; she\u2019s a former care worker who restores old cars as a hobby.<\/p>\n \u201cMy main drive to go into the trades was to get in the automotive restoration business,\u201d says Briche. \u201cThere are not a lot of women out there.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A\u00a0career change is not an uncommon reason for women entering the trades. Campbell had heard about WITT and decided to research it; she had always been searching for something that she would want to do for work that she actually liked.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never had a job over a year,\u201d says Campbell. \u201cI\u2019ve come back to jobs but I\u2019ve never worked for a year because I\u2019d just feel bored and I\u2019d get over it, then I\u2019d look for different opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n Before enrolling in WITT, Waugh had no experience in trades\u2014she used to work in an administrative role in the healthcare industry\u2014but she was looking for a change.<\/p>\n \u201cI had had a point where I knew what I was doing wasn\u2019t something I was passionate about,\u201d says Waugh. \u201cI wasn\u2019t excited to go to work; I wasn\u2019t inspired to be at work.\u201d<\/p>\n Briche says that she got introduced to sheet metal by looking at projects on social media, which actually helped her to figure out the program of study she was interested in.<\/p>\n \u201cI initially was registered for Welding and I asked around for every guy who would build things and I would love the things they built,\u201d says Briche. \u201cYou would just assume they were welders and it just turned out they were metal fabricators, so I changed my course. I\u2019m so thankful I asked.\u201d<\/p>\n Waugh heard about WITT from a roommate who had gone into construction work. But even with two brothers who had gone through trades school, Waugh had never considered it as an option for herself up until that moment.<\/p>\n \u201cNot that it wasn\u2019t there, it was just too daunting of a field and too unknown, especially as a female,\u201d says Waugh. \u201cAnd the WITT was a huge help in that sense, just to give me the confidence and a little bit of a platform to step into the trades world.\u201d<\/p>\n It ended up being a very fast change for Waugh. She was at work on a Friday, and then on Monday she was in the WITT program. She has never gone back to that job. Waugh says that that was actually the only sense in which her new trajectory was shocking for her family.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that I\u2019m interested in building boats, being mechanically pushed throughout the day and using my creative side a little bit more, I don\u2019t think has been a surprise,\u201d says Waugh. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of just like this big aha moment that has happened for everyone around me and makes sense.\u201d<\/p>\n Campbell is also glad that she had the support of family and friends about her stepping into trades. Nonetheless, she says that a friend\u2019s mother once questioned how she would manage the idea that plumbing involved a lot of brute force and strength.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really not concerned. I\u2019m pretty strong, and there are a lot of mechanical advantages for different machines that we can use,\u201d says Campbell. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not always about being super strong; it\u2019s about being smart, and I\u2019m going to be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n Briche describes how her family\u2014although probably being protective\u2014was quite taken aback by her change of career.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I told them I was changing to go into the trades, everyone told me I was crazy,\u201d says Briche. \u201cEveryone just kept telling me that I was going to have to have much thicker skin because it\u2019s a men\u2019s industry.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In terms of her own expectations for the program, Briche didn\u2019t foresee the program having so much math, and she says that she didn\u2019t even know how to properly read a tape measure before enrolling. Despite that, she feels confident after only the first few weeks of classes.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so impressed by how much I\u2019ve learned in such a small amount of time,\u201d says Briche. \u201cWhen you called, I was in the middle of building ducts, air ducts. All of us, we just walk up to the machine and we know what we are doing now.\u201d<\/p>\n The hands-on aspect of the trades programs has met Campbell\u2019s expectations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s good you can divide up some study time and then some shop time so you\u2019re not all sleepy or you\u2019re not all sometimes flustered, because projects can get a little flustering sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n Additionally, Campbell loves how the Plumbing courses are self-paced but also allow her to have a group of classmates with whom she goes through the program.<\/p>\n \u201cYou just kind of move around with your group, just as long as people don\u2019t fall behind or people don\u2019t go ahead,\u201d says Campbell. \u201cI think we all kind of encourage each other to do a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n Roe points out that the students usually make lifelong friends because of the mutual support experienced during their learning processes.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat will naturally happen\u2014and it happens in all classes\u2014if you do have someone who has tried things before, they create this peer support within the classroom and they help each other out,\u201d says Roe. \u201cSo, you know, if one of the women sees someone struggling, they will go and help them with that.\u201d<\/p>\n Waugh mentions that during the sampling program she met women from many different backgrounds but who all had in common the will to do something more and to try something different.<\/p>\n \u201cThe WITT program acted as a guide to open up a lot of doors for us and to kind of dip our toes in and see what felt good,\u201d says Waugh. \u201cBut, as well, it gave me a network of really strong women, and all of us coming out of our program have ended up staying in the trades.\u201d<\/p>\n Briche, who is in her 30s, feels good going to school because she can share her experience with other women, especially younger ones.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hard to know what you\u2019re going to do when you\u2019re 20 years old,\u201d says Briche. \u201cAnd I wish that I\u2019d had a female [role model] in the trades that could\u2019ve told me, \u2018You can do it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n It was with her younger sister\u2019s group of friends that Briche started to speak out about the industry.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a bunch of them over and I was telling them about how not intimidating it is,\u201d says Briche. \u201cBecause you think, trades, like, it\u2019s just full of guys, and guys are grungy and vulgar, but it\u2019s actually so respectful.\u201d<\/p>\n Campbell encourages other women interested in working in a physical job and being in the field to try the trades programs at Camosun.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAll the teachers are rad, all the students are sick, all the projects so far are great. I\u2019m loving it,\u201d says Campbell. \u201cI just tell everyone how excited I am to go to school.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Briche recently heard that her class might be the first in Sheet Metal to get a female instructor, and she is really excited about it.<\/p>\n \u201cThat would just be a really cool thing to eventually aim to,\u201d says Briche. \u201cIf I can go into the trades and have a good job, then I can maybe one day become an instructor. That would be so cool.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Moving forward into the job market, Waugh believes that she can rely on that network of women whom she can help and be helped by.<\/p>\n \u201cJust to know, even walking onto a job site, there\u2019s still those 13 other women I was in the WITT with that are out there doing the same thing as me,\u201d says Waugh, \u201cand they have the same frustrations and the same worries, but we\u2019re there to support each other.\u201d<\/p>\n Campbell has observed the job market becoming more open to women in trades.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not going to say it\u2019s an advantage, but I think it\u2019s like a new way that companies are thinking,\u201d says Campbell. \u201cThey are more cautious; there are different perspectives from our part to work alongside men.\u201d<\/p>\n
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