Women Working in Skilled Trades – Position Paper Launch
November 9, 2011
We here at TalkNUclear are proud to support the launch of this position paper about dispelling some of the myths associated with women in the skilled trades and technologies. The Canadian nuclear community is made up of over 70,000 Canadians employed directly or indirectly in exploring and mining uranium, generating electricity, advancing nuclear medicine, and promoting Canada’s worldwide leadership in science and technology innovation. Our industry needs skilled women working in trade and technology careers. This paper offers recommendations to government, educators and industry to help build programs and incentives to entice women into seeing a skilled trades and technologies as a first-choice career option.
Kitchener – On November 9th, 2011, the executive directors of Women in Nuclear Canada and Skills Canada-Ontario will co-host a breakfast event to celebrate the launch of their joint publication, Women Working in the Skilled Trades and Technologies: Myths and Realities.
Cheryl Cottrill of WiN and Gail Smyth of Skills Canada-Ontario will welcome several dozen stakeholders to the breakfast event at The Sutton Place Hotel, including tradespeople, business leaders and government representatives. Duncan Hawthorne, President and CEO of Bruce Power, will deliver the keynote address.
The paper is the result of a conference hosted by WiN and Skills Canada-Ontario in 2010, in which industry participants were asked for their feedback regarding misconceptions around women working in skilled trades. Their input was combined with data gleaned from a number of additional sources to create the 28-page report.
“We are pleased to have been able to add our voices to the question of what needs to be done to encourage more women to enter these great careers. This report not only contains information for women considering the skilled trades, but also offers advice on how industry, government and educators can provide them with meaningful support, from high school straight through to the workplace.” – Gail Smyth, Executive Director of Skills Canada-Ontario.
The report also highlights six common myths about women working in the skilled trades, and dispels these with the realities that are found in these careers, including excellent wages, good working conditions and room for advancement. “There is no reason why more talented women shouldn’t be filling the current and projected shortfalls in skilled trades positions,” says Smyth. “The sky is the limit in terms of what is available to them, and this report helps to illustrate that fact.”
An electronic copy of the paper will be available on the WiN-Canada website under News and Resources on the morning of Nov. 9. A copy of the paper will also reside on the Skills Canada-Ontario website.
