Women Carpenters’ Silent Struggle (but there is NO war on women!)
Women Carpenters’ Silent Struggle
The port-a-potty was disgusting.
Kina McAfee shivered out of her layers of winter coats and construction coveralls, the clothes nearly dropping to the port-a-potty floor—which was covered in God knows what. McAfee would have preferred not to wear the outhouse’s sewer-like smells back to work, but the convoluted physics of being a woman in a port-a-potty made that wish nearly impossible. Turning around gingerly in the cramped bathroom, McAfee ignored the sexual drawings and words her carpenter colleagues had scrawled on the walls. That was when she spotted her own name, scribbled in permanent marker, accompanied by a message McAfee doesn’t want to remember.
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In fact, just 1.7 percent of employed carpenters are women, according to a 2014 Department of Labor statistics report on “nontraditional” occupations. (The DOL defines nontraditional occupations for women as any workforce comprised of less than 25 percent women, a list that ranges from butchers to barbers to bus mechanics.)
The Women in Apprenticeship and Non-Traditional Occupations Act (WANTO) is the only federal program that specifically aims to help women enter apprenticeships in nontraditional fields, including construction, distributing about $1 million in annual grants to community-based organizations across the country that support that goal. Or rather, WANTO used to do that. The DOL’s 2015 and 2016 budget proposals don’t include any money for the act.
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Chicago Women in Trades runs technical opportunities programs to help women understand basic construction skills, such as how to recognize tools and read blueprints, which they can use to secure apprenticeships in trades of their choosing. Run by unions, apprenticeships are the cornerstone of careers in the trades. During that time, apprentices earn a fraction of the salary they’ll receive once they are certified as journeymen. In return, apprentices are recognized as union members, take classes at the union school and receive on-the-job training through working with contractors at construction sites.
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http://msmagazine.com/blog/2015/07/13/women-carpenters-silent-struggle/
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