Pause and pondr
What are women’s prospects in the skilled trades sector?
Few women are in the skilled trades, but efforts are being made to increase opportunities for women looking for meaningful careers with high-earning potential.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
Unmask common barriers to employment women face in the trades
Infer requisite environmental and hiring changes in male-dominated industries
How many women are in the trades?
Women comprise small percentages of jobs in this sector. According to 2020 federal data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, female workers made up 3.8% of construction laborers, 2.3% of plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters, 1.4% of automotive service technicians and mechanics, and 3.2% of carpenters.
Meanwhile, according to a 2021 analysis by PeopleReady Skilled Trades, a division of industrial staffing agency PeopleReady, there’s “a worsening shortage of workers in the skilled trades.” There were 388,345 jobs posted for skilled trades-related workers between May and June 2021, a 50% increase from pre-pandemic levels — with most positions remaining unfilled for an average of 24 days.”
In fact, prospects for all workers in the skilled trades sector have never been better. Take the heating, air conditioning and refrigeration jobs category, for example. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of HVACR mechanics and installers was projected to grow 5% from 2020 to 2030.
What’s it like to be a tradeswoman?
Ebony Sullivan’s mother, Cassandra Brayboy, has long known what it’s like to have male colleagues who refused to train, much less mentor, her. Before moving from New York City to Greenville, South Carolina in 2000, says Sullivan, “My mom was an electrician. In terms of her discriminatory experiences in the trades, she’s experienced others who didn’t want to teach her. They would send her to get coffee. No one lended a hand to help her. She had to take it upon herself to be assertive and aggressive to learning the trade.”
Now, Brayboy is president and CEO of Cassy Electric, an electrical contracting company she launched out of the trunk of her car 21 years ago. Sullivan, the company’s chief operating officer, says the family-owned and operated business is the only minority-owned, woman-owned electrical contractor in South Carolina.
Kim Industrious-Ayala entered an industry whose expectations and beliefs about her abilities weren’t the most favorable.
“There were very, very few women working in automotive in our industry,” says Industrious-Ayala, managing partner of Industrious Auto in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, since 2007. Industrious-Ayala’s father founded the family’s retail and auto repair business in 1979.
“It’s still very much a boys’ club,” Industrious-Ayala says. “Whenever I go to any meeting with my brother (Industrious Auto’s general manager), I’m the only woman in the room.”
“I don’t know (a single) female mechanic,” adds Industrious-Ayala. Ebony Sullivan of Cassy Electric echoes this sentiment: “We’ve not had any women apply or show any interest. Somehow, we need to let them know girls wear hard hats.”
What’s holding women back in the skilled trades?
In the skilled trades sector, apprenticeships are often the gateway to longtime employment and advancement opportunities for tradespeople. But women are largely underrepresented in apprenticeship programs.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s data, 25,367 women had active apprenticeships versus 249,957 men.
And that’s one of many hindrances for women. Catalyst, a global nonprofit whose goal is to “build workplaces that work for women,” says the challenges women face in male-dominated workforces (such as the skilled trades) include: societal expectations and beliefs about women’s leadership abilities; pervasive stereotypes, such as that of the “caring mother” or office housekeeper; higher stress and anxiety compared to women working in other fields; and lack of mentoring and career development opportunities.
But there are organizations working around the country helping women advance in the trades sector and change the tide.
Chicago Women in the Trades provides free programs in technical opportunities focused on union construction apprenticeships and welding training. Women in Nontraditional Employment Roles, a nonprofit work-development program, trains, teaches and supports women in construction. And Oregon Tradeswomen provides hands-on training, job placement, support and advocacy services. To prepare women to work in the skilled trades, the nonprofit provides a free pre-apprentice program that educates participants about work as heavy equipment operators, carpenters, cement masons and iron workers, as well as jobs in other skilled trades.
Industrious-Ayala says despite low numbers of women in the trades, she thinks there’s a better future ahead in terms of representation, based on her experiences.
“I got a lot of resistance initially. The beginning was hard (for me), being the only woman. But now I’ve gained the respect of my peers,” she says.
Pondr This
Do you know any women in the trades? If so, what do they do?
What do you think are some of the stereotypes that have kept women out of the trades?
How do you think we could broaden career opportunities for women in the trades as a society?
FOR LEADERS
After reading about the underrepresentation of women in the trades, what are some of your takeaways about this issue?
Are there any departments within your own organization that could benefit from including more women, as well as diversifying teams?
Women in the trades often cite that they feel like they have to prove themselves on the job. This is not an uncommon observation in other industries and sectors. Are there steps your organization might take for expressing appreciation and boosting confidence in the women that work in your departments at all levels?
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Topic in Review
In this guide, we looked at the underrepresentation of women in the skilled trades and the barriers that still remain despite a shortage of skilled laborers, and as more skilled workers are retiring.
Continue Your Journey
In March 2021, President Joe Biden unveiled his Build Back Better spending package, whose infrastructure proposals focusing on rebuilding bridges, repairing highways and upgrading transit systems nationwide, could boost apprenticeship programs for tradeswomen and people of color.
Advocates say that this would create more jobs within the skilled trades. The bill also includes investment for child care, which along with paid parental leave, often is another barrier for women going into the trades.
In early November 2021, the bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill was passed by the House after the Senate approved it over that summer, and the fate of the larger social spending package is now being hashed out in Congress.
A study by the National League of Cities in September found that more than 30% of infrastructure jobs are difficult to fill. Baby boomers are retiring out of the workforce and there aren’t enough young people with the skills to replace them.
Back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, the U.S. was leading other countries in terms of women participating in the workforce, but now the U.S. has been lagging behind other countries in Europe and Canada, as well as Australia and Japan.
Connie Ashbrook, a co-chair of the National Taskforce on Tradeswomen’s Issues, recently told The Hechinger Report, “The percentages of people of color and women are going up and there’s a greater attention to equity, but we definitely need the federal government’s attention to bring that all to scale.”