Non-profit supporting women in skilled trades comes to New Brunswick

Women in trades in New Brunswick now have more access to help getting an apprenticeship.

The Office to Advance Women in Apprentices, a non-profit advocacy organization based in Newfoundland, has set up a satellite office in New Brunswick with the goal of connecting women in trades with employers.

The New Brunswick branch of the organization opened late last yearat 300 Grandview Ave. in Saint John.

Karen Walsh, the executive directorof Newfoundland's program, received more than $1 million in federal funding from Employment and Social Development Canada to expand the program to New Brunswick, P.E.I., Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

"I think one of the things we have to do is change the conversation," said Joanne Gormley, the project co-ordinator for the New Brunswick branch of the organization.

"Skilled trades are a viable option for women."

The organization is working on creating a database of employers and women in trades, so it can match a woman looking for an apprenticeship with a business.

"We're providing information for those women and helping them in finding those positions."

Success in Newfoundland

When the Office to Advance Women in Apprentices began in Newfoundland 10 years ago, women in skilled trades made up six per cent of the workforce there. That number has more than doubled, to around 13 per cent.

Across most of Canada, and including New Brunswick, women in skilled trades make up around four per cent of the workforce, Gormley said.

Women looking to go into a trade have a hard time finding employment, and if a woman does secure a job in her field, she's sometimes given a task unrelated to her job, Gormley said.

"They may be given tasks such as going to sweep the floor or doing things like that as opposed to working in the trade that they've been hired to be in."

Twenty-seven women have expressed interest in attending an event the non-profit is hosting Thursday night at its Saint John office, called Tradeswomen Tabletalk.

This is the group's second event since it started operating in New Brunswick. It's also scheduling a breakfast event with trade business and companies at the end of January.