Manufacturing still trying to draw women

of that, women steer away from that area as something they want to go into,” she said.

“They think of manufacturing as being dirty and noisy. They don’t think of it as a nice place to work.”

Once women get into industrial engineering programs, they often become interested in manufacturing careers. But there are still workplace issues, Yauch said, including women receiving less pay than men for the same work.

“A lot of the blatant forms of discrimination are less than what they used to be, because it’s not publicly acceptable anymore to do those things. But I think there are more subtle forms of discrimination that still surface regularly,” Yauch said.

Gaining confidence to tackle hands-on jobs in manufacturing also is an issue, she said, as many women didn’t grow up taking apart machines and doing mechanical things.

Yauch didn’t get over her fear of hands-on work until she was nearly 30 years old and in grad school.

“When I was growing up, my father didn’t let me mow the lawn because he thought it wasn’t a girl’s job. Even while I was a college student getting my bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering, I would avoid taking manufacturing classes if I could.”

In three of the four highest-paying manufacturing fields with potential for job growth, women’s employment declined between 2010 and 2011, while men’s employment increased, according to the National Women’s Law Center.

In seven manufacturing sectors where employment declined, women bore a disproportionate share of the decrease.

Years ago, Mahuta Tool Corp. had one of 17 female tool-and-die makers in Wisconsin, said Lynn Mahuta, owner of the Germantown, Wis., manufacturer.

“In the third year of her apprenticeship, she bought a beautiful, brandnew home. How many women in their third year in college could do that? The opportunities are endless,” Mahuta said.

But when the economy soured, the tool-anddie maker quit to become a registered nurse.

Over the long term, most Americans see the manufacturing sector as getting weaker or at best staying the same, according to a survey released last week by Deloitte LLP and the Manufacturing Institute.

Only 35 percent of Americans would encourage their children to pursue careers in manufacturing, the survey found, despite the increased opportunities and changes in the workplace that have made factory jobs more desirable.

For women, the maledominated culture of manufacturing remains part of the problem, according to Grealis.

“I think it’s still very heavily dominated by men, and unfortunately women aren’t getting that sense of community because often there are so few of them at their workplace,” she said.

In some cases, it’s been a hostile workplace.

“I am sure there has been some mistreatment. I think there are a lot of different environments that are caustic, and there are a lot of dysfunctional companies,” Grealis said.

Getting more women into manufacturing could help address the issues.