Joann Greeley is on a quest to make tradeswomen on construction sites more common.
"I would just like it to be the norm that a woman walks onto a construction site and nobody says ‘oh wow there’s a female electrician,’" said Greeley, noting that she is always a "female electrician", never just an electrician.
"I want it to be that if a 20-year-old girl decides that she wants to be an electrician and she shows up on a job site, nobody gives her a hard time or sees her as the white elephant in the room and that there are other women already on the job site."
Greeley was recently nominated as a visionary in a non-traditional female role for the Bold Vision Canada conference, which brings together Canada’s most influential women leaders. Though she was not ultimately named as one of the visionaries, Greeley hopes to attend the conference this September and learn from the other women visionaries and tell others about the importance of supporting women in the trades.
Though, she was disappointed that Bold Vision did not choose any tradespeople as a visionary.
"They’re missing a huge part as far as I’m concerned," she said.
When Greeley started working in construction, at the age of 35, there were never any other women on site. She began working with the Office to Advance Women Apprentices (OAWA) in Newfoundland, which helps link women in the trades with jobs and provide mentorship.
She also works with Journeyman, a cross-country program that promotes, supports and mentors women in the skilled construction trades, to encourage women to think about careers in the skilled trades.
"I want to make sure that women who want to pursue a career in the trades have the support they need and that they don’t feel as if they are the only person doing that type of job," said Greeley.
Since 2004, the number of women in Newfoundland and Labrador registering for apprenticeship programs in non-traditional roles has increased by 35 per cent, but women had difficulty obtaining the initial work experience to get through their apprenticeship.
OAWA, funded by the government on Newfoundland and Labrador, was created in 2009 with a mandate of increasing employment opportunities for females in the skilled trades. Since its inception, there are now 1,000 tradeswomen registered in the database.
"Because of the work that they’ve done, they’ve really come forward and now turned the tables so now we have employers contacting us looking for tradeswomen," said Greeley.
To her knowledge, there is no other office in the country that acts in such a way as OAWA, linking tradeswomen to jobs and helping fill the gap. Greeley’s next goal is to speak with Kellie Leitch, federal minister of labour and minister responsible for status of women about the results the OAWA has achieved and how it can be applied across Canada.
Greeley said it is important for women to see other women pushing the envelope and working in non-traditional female roles.
"It changes by us talking about it, going to conferences, being at Skills Canada," she said.
"Right now we talk a lot about equality and feminism, really all it is about is inclusiveness. We just want to be included. I don’t want special treatment."
Follow Kelly Lapointe on Twitter @DCNKelly.
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