Women formworkers are trade mythbusters

Formwork is one of the most strenuous fields in construction — a path few women consider taking when they sign up for a carpentry apprenticeship program.

But it is not just the physical nature of the work that is off-putting. Formwork is often perceived to be for tough men who may not accept a woman worker on their turf.

Four women apprentices employed by formwork contractors in downtown Toronto, however, are proving that to be a myth. Being physically fit and working smart can go a long way to keeping up with and being accepted by “the boys.”

First-year apprentice Lynessa White says while her male counterparts “can hammer harder and faster,” she has learned with the guidance of journeyman carpenter Henry Rodriguez and other experienced workers alternative methods of doing things to keep up.

White and another first-year apprentice Marjorie Ford — both signatory to Carpenters’ Local 27 — were hired by formwork contractor UCC Group last summer at a skating rink project under the Gardiner Expressway near downtown Toronto. The two say they haven’t been picked on by their male counterparts, although they know it can be part of the industry.

“For me, I find they (Local 27 journeyman and apprentices) have done a phenomenal job of teaching me,” Ford explains.

The biggest issue when she started last August was the physical nature of the work, as she “came from a desk job.”

It’s not a job just about muscles, White adds. It takes careful calculations to build forms and disassembly can be tricky and unsafe if done improperly.

“There is a physical and an analytical side to this job. The fact this is a skating rink shows the possibilities of the things formwork can do,” she says.

White likes the work but says it is not for every novice apprentice.

“It is dirty, you are outdoors year-round, you get bitten in the summer, get cold in the winter, you get splinters…you have to watch for heavy things that could fall on you,” she describes.

Sean Blake says that part of the role of the business rep for the Carpenters’ Union is to mentor new apprentices on the jobsite.

Two of those apprentices are women, Helina Phillips and Erin Dean, working for Forma-Con Construction at a commercial project just west of downtown Toronto.

“If we can help women do well in the industry, then maybe the Carpenters’ Union is doing its part to drive much-needed change in the construction industry. The goal is to normalize a male-dominated industry to be inclusive of everyone,” Blake says.

James Dean, Forma-Con site superintendent, says he has seen less than a handful of women formworkers over his many years on the job.

Now he oversees two at the big commercial site in Toronto.

“Back in the day there was a mentality that if you were a woman you should be at home,” he adds.

He believes some women might be drawn to formwork for the high wages, which is higher than most sectors of carpentry.

But every worker in the field earns their keep.

“It is a tough industry to be in,” points out Dean, adding that lighter, more portable tools and formwork materials has helped to make the work less physical than it once was.

“You have to be mentally and physically ready for this,” says Phillips, a third-year apprentice, hired several months ago by Forma-Con at the downtown Toronto project.

Phillips says the work is never routine in nature.

“You could be closing a wall, taking down a wall, building forms, building scaffolding…It could be anything they ask you to do and you have to be mentally prepared for it,” she says.

James Dean says if the need arises for more workers, he would not hesitate to hire women again.

Blake says in the 22 years he has been in construction he has only known two women in the formwork sector.

As work in the industry increases and labour scarcities crop up, ruling out women formworkers would be foolhardy for any contractor, he says.

“I’m here and we (Local 27) are here to make sure that women become a normal fabric of construction — including formwork,” he states.

In five years, “if we keep the momentum up,” Blake expects to see more women doing formwork.

“When women see other women working on these sites, then they begin to think that is a possibility for them too,” he adds.