It isn't just NASA that's short on women's workplace gear: St. John's engineer

Poorly fitting space suits are keeping one female astronaut from a historic spacewalk this week, but it's a problemthat affects women in sciences and trades here on earth as well, says the owner of a company designed to fix that problem.

Gear-Up Safety Solutions is a St. John's-based company that makes clothing for women in the trades, designed for their physical and safety needs. Incidents like this one, which forced a female astronaut to allow a male astronaut to take her place, highlight the need for that service, business owner Tenai Norman told On The Go on Tuesday.

"It's unfortunate that she had to step aside, but that's the reality for us as women," Norman said.

Anne McLain waswas replaced on an upcoming spacewalk by her male colleague, Nick Hague, because only one medium-size torso space suit will be ready by March 29.

Spacewalk slipup

Earlier this week, NASA announced theplanned all-women spacewalk which would have been the first had been cancelled because there weren't enough appropriately sized space suits available. McLain had thought she could do the spacewalk in a large-sized suit, but after a test run she decided it wouldn't be safe.

Having clothing for trades and the sciences that is designed to fit women's bodies properly is a matter of safety, Norman said, not just comfort. She's glad to seeMcLain didn't compromise her well-being by wearing an ill-fitting space suit, she said, but she's also surprised the problem didn't come up until a few days before the planned spacewalk.

The situation boils down to a lack of planning and forethought, she said, and it's one she hoped would not still be so prevalent when she started her business a couple of years ago.

"It's amazing that it's still happening right now."

A growing market

The first woman to perform a spacewalk was Svetlana Savitskaya, from the then-U.S.S.R.,in 1984. But less than 11 per cent of the more than 500 people who have travelled to space have been female.

However, women are increasingly a part of trades and science-based professions. McLain and her colleague, Christina Koch, were themselves part of a NASA class that was 50 per cent female. in 2013.

"I find now in the industriesthat there's a lot of other large companies that are looking for the diversity," Norman said. And increasingly both women and the companies that hire them are realizing that simply giving those employees the smallest size available of safety gear designed for male bodies is not adequate.

Bodies across genders come in a variety of sizes and shapes, of course, but the average Canadian woman is both smaller, and built differently, than the average Canadian man. According to 2014 research from Imperial College in London, the average Canadian man is five feet 10 inches tall, and the average Canadian woman is five feet four inches tall. And in general, women have broader pelvic bones relative to their body size, and narrower hands and feet.

All of these factors mean safety equipment will fit women differently from men, generally speaking, even if the sizing for weight and height is correct.

It's unfortunate that she had to step aside, but that's the reality for us as women.- Tenai Norman

The solution to this is to use gear designed specifically for female bodies, Norman said, or to work with a skilled pattern maker to have that clothing and equipment built from the base up to properly fit the measurements of women in the workforce. Things can be adjusted for individuals, she said, but should start with a base that takes different body types in mind.

Norman hopes that will be taken into considerationbefore NASA's next space launch, so it can be all-women as planned, and NASA's stumble will serve as a wake-up call to other industries hoping to bring more female employees on board.

"It's really just educating peopleand really putting this into some of their guidelines, that you have to have this custom fit for women as well," she said.

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