Barriers to hiring

In some cases, employers view the hiring of women as a risk rather than an opportunity (). This barrier stems in part from perceptions that women may represent a risky investment, because they may interrupt their apprenticeship to take maternity leave or attend to family responsibilities (SPR Associates, 2002A; ), or female apprentices place onerous demands on workplace conditions, such as complaining about inadequate facilities or language used on worksites (Grzetic, 1998).

There is a perception that different hiring standards are being used to evaluate male and female candidates (Grzetic, 1998). For example, familiarity and interest with the trades, manual dexterity, physical ability and mechanical aptitude are areas in which some employers explicitly query women. These same employers, however, assume male applicants possess these characteristics (SPR Associates, 2002A; ).

In some cases, employers may make assumptions about future candidates on the basis of their limited experience with past female candidates (WITT-Alberta, 2000; ). In one notable example, the hiring of machinist tradeswomen was believed to have completely stopped, because one machinist became pregnant and went on leave (). In some limited cases, women have been known to benefit from positive discrimination. As a result, positive experiences with only one or two tradeswomen have led to large local hiring sweeps of women in particular trades (). Nevertheless, such outcomes may be based on stereotypes.

Apprenticeship programs and school classrooms

Gender role expectations and stereotypes may be strongly reinforced in schools by teachers and counsellors (WITT-Alberta, 2000; SPR Associates, 2002A; ). In some cases, girls and young women are not encouraged to develop an academic interest in mathematical and technical subjects. It is worth emphasizing, however, that this trend is not always the result of active attempts to steer girls and young women from entering these streams. Rather, these teachers and counsellors simply do not consider these options for young women.

At the same time, guidance counsellors may also have a tendency to channel students into “gender-appropriate” occupations or careers (SPR Associates, 2002). The absence of female industrial-arts teachers and counsellors with strong exposure to the world of trades only helps to reinforce these tendencies within school systems (). Moreover, it appears that attempts to provide guidance, advice, school-to-work placements and other trades-promotion activity ultimately fails to expose young women to work in the non-traditional trades because of the tenacity of formed attitudes about gendered work, and a lack of knowledge about how to deal with the vocational needs of non-traditional students (SPR Associates, 2002A; Kerka, 1999).

Despite these problems, improvements have been noted. One interviewee felt that the current generation of boys and young men are far more likely to be raised with a greater sense of tolerance and open-mindedness. These characteristics result in young men not viewing the presence of women in the trades’ classrooms as a threat ().

For women who have managed to steer clear from such dissuasions, the path towards the trades remains challenging. Women who have formed a strong interest in the trades and technical occupations may face further barriers, because they may be directed or channelled towards areas of the trades that are deemed to be more appropriate for women. For example, Grzetic (1998) noted that women may often be directed toward the electrical trades rather than plumbing on the premise that women do not like “dirty work” and prefer the “cleaner” electrical trades. Similarly, carpentry may be considered more appropriate than mechanics.