OTTAWA — The federal government has announced $1 million in funding to support the Office to Advance Women Apprentices of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters Local 579, for its Engaging and Enhancing Women in Apprenticeable Skilled Trades project.
The project offers 200 women from Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick exposure to the skilled trades as a first-choice career option and with safety skills training and welding certification in partnership with the Canadian Welding Bureau and employment supports, noted an Aug. 6 statement.
The project is funded through the federal Women in Construction Fund, which supports projects that have proven to be effective in attracting women to the construction trades.
The statement noted that according to an OECD survey, only two per cent of 15-year-old female students were planning to pursue a career in the skilled trades and were more likely to be discouraged by their parents from pursuing a trade career than male students.
Women’s representation in Red Seal trades was at five per cent in 2017.
Women are found to be concentrated in the three lowest-paying trades: bakers, cooks and hairstylists.
“Atlantic Canada Regional Council of Carpenters, Millwrights and Allied Workers (ACRC) is delighted to continue our work with the Office to Advance Women Apprentices in Newfoundland and Labrador as they expand their line of services to tradeswomen in the province, and extend these services to other provinces in Atlantic Canada,” said Deb Romero of the ACRC.
“This has been a very successful model and we are pleased that the federal government is investing in this great initiative.”
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