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Funding brings trades opportunities for women

Due to a new government investment, more Albertan women can now consider taking up a skilled trade.

In late March, Western Economic Diversification (WD) minister Lynne Yelich announced an investment of $267,500 for the Women Building Futures Society (WBF), located in Edmonton.

WBF is a non-profit, charitable organization that works to help low income women achieve economic independence through training, employment and mentorship in the skilled trades.

“The social workers who started WBF wanted women to know there were more options out there, and that they could try learning a trade to bring home a decent amount of money to support their families,” said WBF’s chief operating officer, Wanda Wetterburg.

With those principles in mind, the Women Building Futures Petro-Canada Training Centre was completed in 2009. The 50,000-square foot training and affordable housing facility provides women with the theory, skill training and workplace conditioning they need to be successful in the trades.

The latest government investment will allow WBF to purchase videoconferencing software that facilitates the program’s application process for women living in rural or remote areas of Alberta.

“Only three per cent of trades people in Canada are women,” said Wetterburg. “We’re very excited to be helping out so many women with this program.”

SAIT student and third-year welding apprentice Tanis Trottier is excited about the new government investment. “That’s good news,” she said. “I like hearing that women in trades got more funding.”

SAIT instructor Adam Medrek said the number of women pursuing careers in the trades is increasing and women do exceptionally well in the welding program.

“They tend to have excellent fine motor skills, the patience to think things through more, and they excel over most men,” he said.

Takara Bond, a third-year welding apprentice, said when she joined the program years ago, her male classmates were impressed it was her first attempt at a trade, and she learned really quickly.

While Bond has enjoyed learning a trade at SAIT, she feels the work world needs to catch up with the rise of women in the trades.

Bond said when she was first hired at her current employer, there weren’t facilities to accommodate a female employee. Since then, the company has built a separate women’s bathroom and change room.

“Lots of companies still don’t have female facilities on site,” she said. “And I think government funding should go towards changing that too.”

Since the WD began supporting the WBF’s charitable efforts years ago, WBF has seen a 133 per cent rise in graduates from the trades program. The latest government investment will ensure that the number of Canadian tradeswomen keeps on increasing.

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