1,500 B. C. women in trades training. »
Training programs, looming labour shortage inspire women to enter field
If plumbing is men’s work, don’t tell Nicole Martini.
The 24- year- old Kelowna resident, and third- year plumbing apprentice, set her sights on what is still considered a non- traditional career path for women after slugging it out in retail for two years, bored and earning minimum wage.
Her choice of plumbing, in large part, was driven by a very practical desire to stay in her hometown, buy a house and keep working amid economic ups and downs.
That she found the job so interesting was an unexpected bonus.
Martini was in her last week of a 12- week Women in Trades Training initiative at Okanagan College — designed to introduce women to various in- demand trades — when she realized there was more to the occupation than unplugging toilets and clogged sinks. There is plenty of fun stuff to do, like crimping, soldering and DWV ( trade lingo for “drain wasteventing”).
And, at her current training wage of $ 17 an hour, her paycheque definitely goes farther than it used to.
Martini is among a small, but steadily growing number of women in the province who are entering the skilled trades in search of better job satisfaction, independence and a livable wage.
Many women are finding their way into the trades on their own steam in an effort to take advantage of an anticipated skilled labour shortage, projected to be up to 160,000 workers by 2015.
Others, like Martini, have benefited from programs offered through the Women in Trades Training initiative.
This year, the federally funded initiative, overseen by the Industry Training Authority, is set to mark the milestone of 1,500 women participating in trades training programs in British Columbia.
Jessi Zielke, director of strategic initiatives with the Women in Trades Training initiative, said the programs are specifically designed to remove the barriers that have traditionally kept women out of the trades, including providing access to child care, covering the costs of tuition, and, in some cases, even providing bus passes and gas money so students can get to and from school.
At the same time, the focus is to raise awareness of job options available in the province, and equip women with a working knowledge of the trades, safety training and tools so they can enter the workforce alongside their male counterparts with confidence.
“What the programs do is help the women transition, so that they can actually go out into the workplace and have the introductory job skills and knowledge they need to hit the ground running,” Zielke said.
Nancy Darling, administrator with the Trades and Apprenticeship program at Okanagan College, said the 12- week exploratory program offered through the school has attracted more than 400 women since it started in 2009. The age and work experience of participants varies widely.
“There are a lot of young women, 20 to 25, who’ve been at home, maybe raising young children, and need to enter the workforce and are lacking the skills,” Darling said.
Others are older and are looking to escape from the entry- level jobs they’ve found themselves trapped in their whole working lives.
“They are saying, ‘ I am 45, but I am willing to try something new,’ and we’re willing to give them a chance and have a career that is really in demand and they don’t have to fear getting laid off every year,” she said.
Ultimately, said Darling, the lure of the trades comes down to opportunity: “Women are starting to take ownership of our own learning and, through that, they are taking ownership of their own careers and career trajectory.”
Martini gives full credit to her participation in Okanagan College’s exploratory program for introducing her to the plumbing trade.
Before she enrolled, she said, “I did not think about plumbing, ever.”
She’s grateful, too, for the initiative’s funding that allowed her to complete her pre- apprenticeship training without putting a dent in her own pocketbook. She still turns heads when on work sites or in a warehouse picking up equipment. She is, so far, the only woman with her company, and it’s clear many people, male and female, still aren’t used to seeing a woman on the job.
But far from being discouraging, most people — particularly other women — want to know where she got her training, and how she likes the job.
She tells them not to be scared away.
“If you have your mind set on what you want to do, just go for it, like anything else,” she said.