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.

When Young Women and the World of Construction Meet, It's "MAGIC"

The San Diego Chapter, NECA is getting ready to participate, once again, in the Mentoring A Girl In Construction (MAGIC) Camp hosted by theNational Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC). San Diego's fifth annual MAGIC?Camp runs June 20-29 at the Stanley E. Foster Construction Tech Academy.

Thirty-three area high school-aged young women will join forces with countless construction trade association mentors, including our own San Diego Electrical Training Center's ace instructors. Experts in skilled fields, provide hands-on training, allowing the young women to learn basic construction skills in a variety of trades ranging from electrical to carpentry to sheet metal.

The intense summer day-camp experience gives a glimpse of what the construction industry has available for today's women and the many career paths to explore. Participants will have an opportunity to sample the tools of the trades, including building a construction project on the high school campus.

NECA San Diego has long been supportive of women in construction and encourage women to enter into their apprenticeship programs offered by San Diego Electrical Training Center or participate at the university level in the NECA Student Chapter programs.

Past graduates of the MAGIC experience have continued their education at San Diego State University in the J.R. Filanc Construction Engineering and Management Program. MAGIC graduate and SDSU coed Ana Sical joined the NECA National Green Energy Challenge as part of the SDSU-NECA Student Chapter competing against the best and brightest students from major universities nationwide.

"The MAGIC program continues to introduce young women to the many possibilities available to them that will lead to a solid career," said Karen Prescott-Loeffler, San Diego NECA's director of business development and SDSU-NECA Student Chapter representative. "For many of these young ladies, this is a reason to stay in high school and earn that diploma."

Today's construction is a highly skilled field which includes the many career paths in renewable energy. Many would agree, there is no other program quite like MAGIC Camp, where a young woman can experience the future.

Women In NECA (WIN). NECA’s national organization is also supportive of women involved in our industry. Formerly known as the NECA Women's Peer Group, Women in NECA (WIN) was created to provide a collaborative forum for all women affiliated with NECA-member companies, NECA chapters and local NECA-IBEW Labor-Management Cooperation Committees (LMCCs). WIN supports the professional development of women working in the electrical contracting industry through educational and networking events; promotes diversity in the industry; and encourages women to explore careers in electrical contracting. For more information on WIN, please visit www.necanet.org/education/women-in-neca/

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