Research suggests that apprenticeship retention and completion rates for women, Aboriginal people, visible minorities and persons with disabilities remain persistently low. For women, apprenticeship retention has not changed significantly despite increases in the number of new female apprentices (Sweet & Lin, 1999; O’Hara and Evers, 1996; 
). In the case of Aboriginal
people, apprenticeship-participation rates have remained low despite numerous attempts to integrate them into the trades (O’Hara and Evers, 1996). Members of visible-minority groups, by some accounts, appear to be entering apprenticeship in greater numbers, but they do not appear to be staying (
). Finally, persons with disabilities also appear to have low levels of apprenticeship participation and retention (O’Hara and Evers, 1996).
The workplace environment can be unwelcoming
and intimidating for young, new entrants into the workforce, particularly in industrial and construction settings. One study on apprentice retention (Industry-Education Council of Hamilton,
2001) cited a lack of respect and verbal abuse by employers, poor working conditions, and unsteady or insufficient work hours as key factors in young apprentices’ propensity to stay with employers. Some focus-group participants also referred to this issue, commenting that many worksites and employers are not “friendly” to youth and apprentices ().
Such experiences are particularly in evidence in the case of groups of individuals that have been traditionally under-represented in the apprenticeship and trades system, and may help to explain why so many women, Aboriginal people, visible minorities, recent immigrants, and persons with disabilities do not appear to be staying in apprenticeships. Individuals from these groups are known to face unwelcoming behaviour that can take a number of forms:
With a few notable exceptions, discrimination and stereotyping in hiring practices, classrooms and workplaces is perceived to continue to pose significant barriers to women entering the trades (CLMPC, 1990; SPR Associates, 2002A; Grzetic, 1998; ). These barriers include:
)))In one study, a considerable proportion of tradeswomen reported having experienced discrimination or sexist treatment on job sites (Madsen, 1999). Research indicates that this problem may have comparable dimensions in other regions and across most of the nontraditional trades, remaining a widespread barrier for women. Footnote 3
Return to note 3 Whether these problems are equally severe in all trades is unclear. According to some sources, women working in some construction jobs have cited fewer barriers and negative experiences compared to women working in mining, heavy-equipment operation, and electrical and mechanical trades (Madsen, 1999). Conversely, other studies suggest that the experience of women in construction is not substantially different from the experiences of women working in other trades (Sweet and Gallagher, 1997).