Repost: Homophobia Hinders Women’s Progress in Building Trades

A recent study conducted by Amy M. Denissen of California State University and Abigail C. Saguy of University of California–Los Angeles illuminates the ongoing challenges in recruiting and retaining women in the construction industry by examining the gender discrimination and homophobia many tradeswomen experience on the job. A press release published by Sociologists for Women in Society states:

"Denissen and Saguy explain that when women enter trade work, men often feel threatened. This stems from the building trades being traditionally seen as “men’s work.” The study finds that tradeswomen are sexually objectified and occupationally discriminated against in an attempt to neutralize the threat tradeswomen pose to men’s right of privileged access to these lucrative careers." (SWS, 17 June 2014)

To read the full press release, visit http://socwomen.org/swspr62014/. To download a copy of the study, visit http://gas.sagepub.com/.

Repost: Skilled Women Break Through Barriers to Entry and Promotion in Trades Work

Saturday, 06 October 2012
By Eleanor J Bader, Truthout | Report

Although role models are scarce, training is hard to find and sexism is rampant, determined women are finding professional success and satisfaction in the skilled trades: construction, sheet metal working, welding, pipefitting - and more.

When Leah Rambo became a sheet metal worker in 1988, she never imagined that she'd one day run the apprenticeship program for Local 38 of the Sheet Metal Air and Rail Transportation Union. But a little more than a year ago, she became one of the highest-ranking women in the US labor movement, taking the helm of a hands-on, 4 1/2-year training program for sheet metal workers in New York City and Nassau and Suffolk counties.

This year, the program has 306 students, eight percent of them female.

"The challenge is not only to get women enrolled," Rambo says. "If you promote trades work to women, and they see other women doing the jobs, a lot will want in. The bigger challenge is improving the conditions so they stay in the field. Most women experience discrimination or harassment. As a matter of fact, when you are a woman, nobody - not the bosses and not your co-workers - sees your color. Your gender is much more important than your ethnicity or race. The sexism is not as bad as it was, but it is always an issue. Women are still hit on, still don't get the same promotion opportunities and still get laid off more frequently than men." ...

To read the full article, visit truth-out.org.

Women and Work: This is What Real Women Working Look Like

By: Nancy Hiller

Posted: 02/21/2012 6:03 pm 

When I was 14, my mother took me to a dermatologist to have the row of warts on my right middle finger permanently removed. Two treatments were available. The doctor recommended the more costly, which would leave my hand unblemished. The less expensive option, burning the warts with liquid nitrogen, would cause scars.

"Oh, we're not worried about scars," my mother said. "Nancy's hands will be working hands." I'm not sure where she got this idea, especially considering that I spent more time translating Virgil and Plato than wielding a plane or hammer, but we went with the liquid nitrogen. I sometimes wonder whether her words influenced my early decision to become a cabinetmaker.