Number of women in the trades higher than ever, says organization head

The hard work of pioneering women in the trades in Newfoundland and Labrador is paying off, says Karen Walsh, executive director of the Office to Advance Women Apprentices.

Seven years ago, Walsh said she'd get at least a few calls a week from women in the trades having problems with the working conditions or with finding employment.

Now, she says, she's only getting those calls once every few months.

That shift is thanks to the tradeswomen who have done the hard work of battling prohibitive, male-dominated work cultures and proving themselves, she said. "[They've] paved the way for other women coming after them," she told the St. John's Morning Show.

Alyssa Crewe, a fourth-year carpenter apprentice, says even she's seen a change during her short career.

"When I went in, I was quiet, I didn't want to speak up," she said, adding that there were some male co-workers who weren't too impressed to have a woman in their midst. "But now, as it progresses, there's more and more of us coming around and they appreciate it more."

"It gets better and better every day."

First CAF conference for women in trades

Crewe was one of 17 tradeswomen from Newfoundland and Labrador to attend the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum's first-ever conference for women in trades, held in Halifax last week.

She said it was a good networking opportunity and a great way to learn how to keep the momentum going and make it even easier for women and girls younger than her to make their way in the trades.

Crewe is also one of the 1,800 women in the Office to Advance Women Apprentices' database of workers, Walsh said. Of the women in that database, Walsh said her office has helped 1,200 of them find work and 157 of those obtain their red seal certification, which signifies the highest standard of qualification and excellence in the trades.

"That's a large number when you look at how disproportionate women in trades really are," Walsh said.

She said that along with participation and training rates, retention rates for women in the trades have also been strong.

Before, women who struggled to find employment or to cope with the on-the-job culture would just shift careers, she said. Now, with the help of mentors and employment tracking through her office, Walsh said more and more women are sticking with it — even through the downturn in the past few years.

"We've had more small- and medium-size companies contact us looking to hire tradeswomen that our numbers have actually gone up," she said.

'Just as capable'

Crewe said the change isn't just in the attitudes in the industry around her. Being in the trades for the past four years has taught her a lot about herself, too.

"I can still dress up and go out but yet I can sit down with the boys and do just as a hard of a work as they can," she said.

That's not something she would have imagined back in the 1990s when she grew up, she said.

"In the last four years I've learned that I'm just as capable as anyone else."

With files from Krissy Holmes

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