\u201cI was actually thinking about going into social work when [WITT training coordinator] Karen McNeill said, \u2018Hey, we\u2019re starting this new program\u2014you get to try all these different trades and see if you like any of them. Why haven\u2019t you thought about doing this since you\u2019re doing all these home renos at home?\u2019 I said, \u2018Well, women don\u2019t belong in the trades. \u2018And she said, \u2018Who told you that?\u2019 and I said, \u2018My uncle, years ago, who is a carpenter.\u2019 She said, \u2018Well, you\u2019re just finishing up your upgrading, so what have you got to lose?\u2019 and I did the program.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the government supporting financially and WITT\u2019s advocacy for women\u2019s trade education, tradeswomen sparked up a network of internal support. They created Facebook groups and monthly meet-ups open to all BC tradeswomen. Naturally, bonds started building within this community.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou find mentorships, or friendship, or people you can ask about child care, or whatever, or what are the best pants to buy, those kinds of things,\u201d says Carr.<\/p>\n
Even with all this support, when Carr first entered the industry there were still hurdles to jump. Due to a lack of women in the field, she was carving her own path into the industry. Once she graduated from the Sheet Metal Foundation program at Camosun, she had to figure out how to enter the field. She joined a sheet metal workers\u2019 union, and was only the second woman to do so in that particular union.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like a unicorn everywhere I went,\u201d says Carr. \u201cIt was unchartered territory here on the island to be a female sheet metal worker. And there were challenges at the beginning, and you definitely had the weight of the world on your shoulders. I think there\u2019s a stereotype that trades are for big burly men, and it\u2019s funny because I remember walking out on one of my first construction sites when I first started out, and there were men that were four feet tall, and there were men that were six feet tall, and there was buff men, and there was thin men, and men of every body type imaginable. And I remember looking at them and going, \u2018If they can do it, I can do it\u2019. That was a big awakening.\u201d<\/p>\n A changing field<\/b><\/p>\n Today, women entering trades can use the support and experience from past trailblazers to enter their desired fields. This includes access to funding to get trades education. Any female student in the WITT Sampler program can access this funding; however, you don\u2019t have to be part of this WITT program to receive funding. Many female students outside of the program are recipients of financial aid related to WITT. Pipe Trades Foundation student Vicky Yu is an example of this, as she is a recipient of WITT funding even though she isn\u2019t in the WITT program.<\/p>\n \u201cI started off at UVic and after three miserable years I dropped out and I was kind of like, \u2018Ah, crap\u2014I need a job.\u2019 I\u2019ve always really enjoyed working with my hands in high-school workshops and stuff, so I figured I might as well go to the trades,\u201d says Yu. \u201cI figured I am really terrified of getting electrocuted, so not that field. Water is cool. I guess plumbing would be smart. I didn\u2019t even realize how many individual fields that the pipe trades consisted of\u2014sprinkler filling, medical gas, a lot of different pipe trades that I didn\u2019t even think of before I got to the program.\u201d<\/p>\n Carr says that the attitude of women entering trades has changed immensely, and now young women can see themselves entering trades as a professional and serious career. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhen you used to Google construction workers and go to images on the Google search it would be halloween costumes of women dressed up as sexy construction workers. Now when you look up women in trades you\u2019ll see a whole bunch of BC women actually pop up first,\u201d says Carr. \u201cIt\u2019s changed. Now that you can see us and we\u2019re visible now I have friends from 20, 30, and 40 saying, \u2018Yeah, I wish I had the opportunity to do that, and I go, \u2018You still do. 100 percent you still do.\u2019 And so they go.\u201d<\/p>\n Barriers and hoops<\/b><\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t easy for modern-day tradeswomen to get a seat at the table. Pioneers of gender diversity in trades fought hard for these accomplishments, and every woman entering trades is still battling alongside them. One of these women is Camosun WITT coordinator Heather Solomonson.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really incredibly rewarding to see women have the opportunity to try out the tools and to get a sense for what kind of work they want to pursue in a supported and comfortable environment,\u201d says Solomonson. \u201cAnd then have them come back for their foundation training or their apprenticeship and then… come back in that full-circle capacity as instructors and supporters of the program.\u201d<\/p>\n Like Carr and Yu, Solomonson didn\u2019t plan on entering the trades, or for it to be her career. Unfortunately, their stories are that of a huge number of tradeswomen. Solomonson says that the default suggestion to women is too often a more academic route.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was growing up there was sort of an expectation for me that at some point I would go to university and get a real job,\u201d says Solomonson. \u201cIt\u2019s really quite remarkable at this point to see how many students who end up coming to our trades sampler programs and get into the trades that do come from a university background.\u201d<\/p>\n Some women need financial support to enter the field. Thanks to this assistance, women like Sarah Cooper, a WITT alumni and current carpenter, can access this career path.<\/p>\n \u201cI became a single mom when I was pregnant with my second, and I used to work in an office and I hated it so much, so I started working with WorkBC and things like that. And they told me about the WITT program,\u201d says Cooper. \u201cI ended up, when my ex left me, [with] a two year old and I was pregnant with a baby. I was on welfare. I had to turn to social assistance to pay my rent and I was like, I don\u2019t ever want to be here again. So, I figured out if I tried this and it worked out, then, great, so I took the program and did a whole 360, and now I never have to worry about money again.\u201d<\/p>\n Since women aren\u2019t commonly encouraged to enter trades it can be confusing to know where to start. Programs like WITT can be part of the solution. By providing a sampler program, women can be introduced to the trades that they\u2019ve been sheltered from. The program isn\u2019t by any means a holy grail, though. Women in WITT and other Camosun trade programs still endure the harsh realities of entering a male-dominated industry.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are definitely ups and downs,\u201d says Yu. \u201cI personally haven\u2019t really felt the negative effects but some of my friends do feel like they have to fight harder to be included. But my experience has largely been really positive.\u201d<\/p>\n Only approximately five percent of trades workers in Canada are women, according to figures from 2020.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is growing. We can see it here at the college as we continue our enrolment in the trades programs, and it is increasing across the country,\u201d says Solomonson. \u201cProvince to province I would imagine there would be some variation on how many supports are in place and whatnot.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Image-3.jpeg\")
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