December 28, 2013
Trade and technical professions have, traditionally, been male-dominated fields. But that tradition is changing, thanks in part to work done by the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology (SIAST).
For the past several years, SIAST has partnered with Saskatchewan Women in Trades and Technology (SaskWITT) to introduce women and girls to various careers in the trades and technology fields. "We see that there is not gender equality in some programs, so we consider them to be male-dominated," says Anna Kwasnica, the provincial facilitator for SIAST's WITT programs. "Women don't face the same types of barriers that they might have 10, 15, 20 years ago in some of those areas, so now we're just looking at trying to get those numbers to increase."
As part of their partnership with SaskWITT, SIAST offers two main programs: one for girls in Grades 6, 7 and 8, and one for women in high school and above.
Girls Exploring Trades and Technology (GETT) camps take place each July at every SIAST campus across the province. The week-long day camps bring girls in Grades 6, 7 and 8 into contact with women who work in a variety of trades or technology fields. The camps also give girls the opportunity to work in pairs or teams on a number of projects, ending the week with the construction of a go-cart. SIAST has committed to running two GETT camps in 2014, the second of which will focus more on technical subjects such as sustainable energy and civil engineering.
The Women in Trades Exploratory course, meanwhile, gives women in high school and above the opportunity to experience a day in each of SIAST's trade shops. The hands-on course gives participants a better understanding of what training options are available, as well as an understanding of what is physically, emotionally and academically required to take part in one of SIAST's full training programs. The course is offered twice a year at the Regina and Saskatoon campuses, and registration is currently open for the courses taking place in January and February.
While the GETT camps are designed to introduce young girls to trades and technology in general, the Women in Trades Exploratory course is aimed more at women looking to explore their career options. "They get to actually use the tools in those shops and see if it's something that might be of interest to them," says Kwasnica. "We see a lot of people coming in that have maybe been nurses for 15 years that want to get out of that and want to do something with their hands because they're maybe looking for a change in life. And we see a lot of people coming out of high school that ... [say] 'I tried some of this in high school, but I can't decide between welding and electrical.'"
Since the partnership between SIAST and SaskWITT was launched, SIAST has seen an increase of the number of women enrolling in its trades programs. While enrolment still isn't as high as SIAST wants it to be, the number of women in trades programs doubled between 2007 and 2012. The numbers for technical programs remained consistent at about 15 per cent female enrollment.
"We see women coming into those areas - obviously those barriers are not the same as they used to be, so it's just kind of steadily increasing," says Kwasnica. "We want to see that, where it's not a question of equity anymore, it's just tradespeople."
For more information or to register for the SIAST and SaskWITT programs, call Kwasnica at 306-691-8446, or visit gosiast.com and click on "Women in Trades and Technology" under the "Programs and Courses" tab.
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