Women in Trades – CCWESTT

The Green Economy And Its Impact On The Skilled Trades In Canada The transition to a greener economy promises long-term environmental benefits, anticipated to create both significant opportunities and challenges. One of the key concerns is the labour market implications during the ramp-up of clean technologies. This transition is accelerating the demand for existing and […]

Tradespeople Need Child Care to Build Up Ontario

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| HR/Employer Guides, Resources, Women in Trades

Tradespeople Need Child Care to Build Up Ontario This resource set addresses the systemic child care barriers that prevent workers from entering and staying in the skilled trades. It highlights how standard child care models, typically designed for a 9-to-5 schedule, fail to accommodate the early start times, unpredictable overtime, and changing worksites inherent in […]

Indigenous Tradespeople Share their Experiences in Apprenticeships and the Skilled Trades

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| Resources, Women in Trades

Indigenous Tradespeople Share their Experiences in Apprenticeships and the Skilled Trades The Canadian Apprenticeship Forum (CAF-FCA) consulted with 50 Indigenous tradespeople. They worked in a variety trades as carpenters, electricians, powerline technicians, machinists, steamfitters/pipefitters, automotive service technicians and plumbers. Most of the interviewees were from Atlantic Canada. This work was guided by CAF-FCA and the […]

Building Equitable Trades – A Photo-Research Exhibit of Diversity in the Skilled Trades

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| Resources, Women in Trades

Building Equitable Trades – A Photo-Research Exhibit of Diversity in the Skilled Trades In academic contexts, we often use language related to building and constructing inclusive spaces, yet there is a lack of research focusing on the people who build and construct, literally. So, why have we neglected inequities in this context (vs. academic research) […]

Why aren’t women working in trades? Creating safe and inclusive workplaces for women

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| Resources, Women in Trades

Why aren’t women working in trades? Creating safe and inclusive workplaces for women Bonnie Douglas, Project Manager at CCWESTT, reflects on why there are so few women in trades and what Canadian employers can do about it. Credit: Labour Market Information Council Date: 2021 For more information on this resource click here. View

Pain, pride and pills: Why Canadian trades workers are dying in silence

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| Resources, Women in Trades

Pain, pride and pills: Why Canadian trades workers are dying in silence A new survey links stigma, stoicism and unsafe job sites to high substance use and untreated mental health issues among trades workers. Credit: Alexandra Keeler Date: 2025 For more information on this resource click here. View

Scaling Deep to Make Space for Females in Trades: Transformational Inclusion at a Community College

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| Resources, Women in Trades

Scaling Deep to Make Space for Females in Trades: Transformational Inclusion at a Community College The authors use the skilled trades shortage as a unique context to pilot transformative approaches to changing culture and practice around equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in recruitment, progression, and retention of previously-excluded student groups, focusing on gender. To demonstrate […]

Powering UP: Preparing Canada’s skilled trades for a post-pandemic economy

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| Resources, Women in Trades

Powering UP: Preparing Canada’s skilled trades for a post-pandemic economy This RBC report was developed within our Humans Wanted research program. It is informed by a series of roundtables and interviews with skilled trades workers, employers, educators, and industry leaders beginning in early 2020. It leverages findings from an analysis of specific trades using the […]

Negotiating gender in the male-dominated skilled trades: a systematic literature review

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| Resources, Women in Trades

Negotiating gender in the male-dominated skilled trades: a systematic literature review Occupations in the skilled trades are highly segregated with women comprising 1–3% of this workforce in Western nations. We report on a systematic review of 26 articles, from 1998 to 2019, which explored women’s recruitment and retention in the skilled trades. Two research questions […]

The Role of Public Policy in the Retention and Advancement of Women in the Skilled Trades

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| Resources, Women in Trades

The Role of Public Policy in the Retention and Advancement of Women in the Skilled Trades Women have been continually underrepresented in the skilled trades workforce in Alberta. In 2019, 4,600 of the 44,000 registered apprentices were women, roughly equating to 10% (Alberta 2020a). This report seeks to understand why the representation of women in […]