Five ways to welcome women to the trades 1 Bring women already in the trades to table at recruitment events like job fairs. Women are often more receptive to female recruiters. 2 Create all-female building teams in middle school, high school and post-high school trades classes. These give girls and women opportunities to get to know one another and build friendships. 3 Pay attention when women and girls share instances of sexual discrimination and harassment. Then work with school administrators or job supervisors to resolve concerns. “I remember one instance at a job when I saw two men take a blowtorch away from a woman and start to use it in the wrong way. She was panicking because we were working with an open flame. I pulled her aside to teach her how to do it correctly, step by step,” says Alondra Perez, a welding technology student at Napa Valley College. 4 Ensure male trainers and administrators go to conferences that relate to women. “When I attended the Women Build America conference in 2022, it was powerful. I was reminded I am in a unique position to help and I should help,” says John McEntagart, business manager and financial secretary for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 551.
quickly became a foreman. She was not just good at her job. She was a leader,” says McEntagart. Anderson’s achievements showed McEntagart all you need to be an electrical apprentice in the union is a good work ethic. “It doesn’t matter if you are a man or woman, we want you to apply. Now half the people coming up to IBEW Local 551’s booth at job fairs are female. It’s easy for them to see themselves as construction electricians when the person at the job fair booth talking to them about being an electrician is a woman and an electrician,” says McEntagart. Rob Barsi is the training director of Redwood Empire Electrical Training Center. He wants to raise the number of women in the center’s program above the current figure, 3%. There have been only five female graduates over the past six years. “When women get in, they usually excel. The question is how to encourage them to apply. Right now, we’re waiting to receive funds for outreach from California’s new Equal Representation in Construction Apprenticeship (ERiCA) grant,” says Barsi. The ERiCA grant is meant to create career pathways for women, non-binary and underserved populations into careers in building and construction. It will provide $5,000 for childcare for those in a pre-apprenticeship program and $10,000 for childcare for those in an apprenticeship program. Doug Marriott, senior dean, career education and workforce development at Napa Valley College, says the job market is excellent for individuals who complete training in the trades. “When we have women in the program, they usually get placed right after they graduate. Sometimes they get jobs in the field before they graduate. I see departures like this as ‘positive attrition,’” says Marriott. Perez, who is bilingual in Spanish and English, has already earned an overhead certification for welding. She has also developed an area in which she wants to specialize: fabrication. “I’m ready to work in a shop and incorporate all the skills I’ve learned, like designing blueprints for welders,” says Perez. “Yet the things I learned from two women ahead of me in this program were also part of my education. This included sticking together, the tips and tricks they shared and them taking extra time to watch me practice.” Adds Perez: “Them being there for me put me in a better position to help myself and others.” g IBEW Local 551 business manager John McEntagart, and ‘journeymen’ Naomi Leef, Stephanie Hall and Leah Edwards at the 2022 Tradeswomen Build Nations Conference in Las Vegas. [Photo courtesy IBEW Local 551]
5 Advertise success stories, even when there are only a few of them. “Bad news travels fast, but people keep good news to themselves,” says McEntagart.
— Jessica Zimmer
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56 NorthBaybiz
June 2024
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