With demand for skilled trades soaring, more women join the ranks

Globe and Mail

13-05-2025

Claudette Roy still remembers her first day of classes to become an HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) tech and gas fitter. 'I walked into my first class and the teacher looked at me and said, 'I think you're in the wrong room,'' she says. 'That was the start of it – you're in the wrong place.'
That was nearly 21 years ago and Ms. Roy would become the first woman to graduate from her program at Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC). She originally entered the program to learn to fix issues that popped up at a rental property she owned. If the boiler died or the air conditioning had problems, she wanted to take care of them herself. 'I found this HVAC course that did some plumbing, some electrical, some piping. It had a little bit of everything, so I signed up.' It turns out, Ms. Roy was a natural, and she fell in love.
At first, she was the only woman in her classes. Then, she was the only woman on job sites. That has changed somewhat over the past two decades that Ms. Roy has been working – but not much. In 2022, Statistics Canada reported that women made up 8.3 per cent of skilled trades workers, up from 5.9 per cent when tracking began in 1987.
But we need more people in skilled trades, particularly women. The construction industry across the country needs to recruit more than 350,000 new workers in the next decade in order to keep up the pace of construction and offset the hundreds of thousands of baby boomers set to retire.
In response, trades schools and colleges have looked to recruit and retain women with a variety of programs. NSCC offers Women Unlimited, a free, 14-week program that includes job shadowing and site visits, to introduce women to the realities of working in a trade. Industry groups, such as Women On Site, which has chapters across Ontario, plus a handful further west, allow women in trades to find community and connection with others, which can be crucial.
'It's about creating bonds and relationships, because that's what's going to help them once they graduate,' says Ruth Lebelo-Almaw, co-ordinator of women in Red Seal skilled trades at Fanshawe College in London, Ont. Ms. Lebelo-Almaw focuses on recruitment and retention of women at Fanshawe, hosting programs like the Jill of All Trades fair for high school students, aiming to present skilled trades as a viable career path early. Fanshawe is also a partner of the Women on Site group, and promotes that connection early to help students build a stable foundation of peers across the industry.
That can be important, especially to young women who might be on their first job. Though it's been more than 20 years since Ms. Roy was told she was in the wrong room, there are still misconceptions and difficulties that women face on a job site.
'Homeowners sometimes think that I am my boss's daughter, or that I'm related to somebody at the company,' says Olivia VanDenBelt, a Fanshawe graduate and a carpentry apprentice.
Ms. VanDenBelt saw a few women in her classes, but says she's often the only one at a work site. That can also mean needing to get creative. While women can do any job men can, they may do it a little differently. For Ms. VanDenBelt, that means finding ways to lift heavy sheets of plywood that she simply can't muscle up like her male coworkers can. 'I built little ramps on a two by four to help me slide the sheet up, because I wasn't quite tall enough, or as tall as some of my co-workers to get the sheets up high enough and to make it feel safe for me,' she says. 'It took an extra five minutes, but now my co-worker could also use the sled, and it made it easier for him too.'
Equipment is getting easier to source as well. Courtney Poirier, a refrigeration apprentice in Halifax, remembers trying to find a pair of steel-toed boots just two years ago. 'I walked in and asked, 'where's the women's section?' And the man said, 'we don't have one.' I told him 'that's part of the problem.'' Since then, Ms. Poirier has already noticed more stores offering a wider selection of women's workwear – including boots.
It can be frustrating for the women working these jobs that we're even still talking about the lack of women in trades. When asked, every woman interviewed said that they were surprised their choice of career was still seen as out of the ordinary. But ultimately, everyone also acknowledged that it's still a necessary conversation.
'We still have under representation. That means it's probably healthy that we're having this conversation. It means that we're not there yet – but we're doing lots of work to get there,' says Sarah Hall, dean of the school of trades and transportation with NSCC. Ms. Hall says the school's recruitment efforts have paid off and NSCC has seen an increase in enrolment. This year, 14 per cent of their student body identifies as female, up from 9 per cent last year.
Women are still in the minority in trades, but Ms. Roy sees that changing, as more apprentices join the ranks, and she's happy to welcome as many interested people as she can to the profession. 'It's a trades-person's world right now. We don't have to fight to be an apprentice or carry someone's bag any more. We … make good money doing it. I couldn't recommend something more right now.'