According to the Department of Labor, in “2008 of the 121 million women age 16 years and over living in the U.S., 72 million, or 59.5 percent, were labor force participants—working or looking for work. Women comprised 46.5 percent of the total U.S. labor force.” That pretty much puts them on par with the male labor force. Although working women dominate in areas of healthcare and administration, they are also finding new and exciting opportunities in “nontraditional jobs.” These include construction and building inspectors, machinists, truck drivers, fire fighters, aircraft pilots, and construction occupations.
For the proud and dedicated women already working in those fields, they’ll tell you that there is nothing “nontraditional” about those jobs; they are just work. As a result of a growing number of women entering into the trades, there have been numerous resources created to prepare and educate any woman interested in a trade career.
Within the vast array of divisions at the U.S. Department of Labor is the Women’s Bureau. This organization was created by Congress back in 1920 and is the only federal agency mandated to address the needs of wage-earning women. For 89 years they have been following their mission statement “to improve the status of wage-earning women, improve their working conditions, increase their efficiency, and advance their opportunities for profitable employment.”
Based in California, Tradeswomen Inc. sprung up from a grass-roots organization in 1979 to become a satewide community of working women dedicated to training the next generation of tradeswomen.
Over in the Midwest, there is Chicago Women In Trades. According to their overview “Chicago Women in Trades (CWIT) is celebrating 25 years of supporting, encouraging, and training women in high-skilled, high-wage nontraditional careers. To accomplish these goals CWIT provides support, advocacy, and education to tradeswomen.”
Finally on the east coast, you can check out the Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW) organization based out of New York City. Since 1978 they have been providing training, education and job resources for women and proudly claim that “most of the female hardhats working in New York City are NEW graduates.
Those are just a small sampling of the vast array of resource centers dedicated to supporting women in the trades. If you know a great site in your neck of the woods, let us know.
— Meyer
