Redefining education
Empowering women’s economic participation
Becoming a champion for women in trades wasn’t on Sarah Chamberland-Fortin’s mind when she decided to change careers. What attracted the former tree top specialist to a wind turbine technician program were her passion for renewable energy and a love of heights.
The inspiration for this new career path was sparked by a video of a young woman explaining her day-to-day work with wind turbines, says Ms. Chamberland-Fortin, who is now enrolled in a two-semester program at Lethbridge College in Alberta. “It just clicked,” she explains. “And skilled trades training seemed a good investment since energy is something we’ll always need.”
Ms. Chamberland-Fortin’s experience at the college – paired with seeing friends lose their jobs in tourism and hospitality – inspired her to speak up to encourage women and girls to explore careers in traditionally male-dominated fields.
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When students see a woman leading a welding course, for example, or when they participate in an introductory course where they can test their skills, this can spark the interest of women to pursue full apprenticeships. ”
Among the reasons why women don’t gravitate to trades are a lack of confidence and scarcity of role models, believes Ms. Chamberland-Fortin, who wants to follow the example of the woman in the video and inspire others.
Inspiring, empowering and supporting women is more important than ever, says Paula Burns, president and CEO at Lethbridge College. “The federal government’s throne speech emphasized that we need to pay attention to what’s happening in the pandemic. We all need to be part of an active strategy to advance women’s economic participation.”
Research shows that women are bearing the brunt of the outfall of the pandemic for a number of reasons. Women have traditionally been overrepresented in service sectors, for example, and shoulder most of the burden of looking after the household and children. Lethbridge College aims to be part of the solution by actively addressing barriers to success, with actions including offering remote learning options and flexibility in coursework as well as daycare on campus, states Dr. Burns.
“We have a strong focus on equity, diversity and inclusion – and this also means making sure women feel welcome in a broad range of programs, including trades,” she says. “We’ve seen good results from showcasing our female instructors.
“When students see a woman leading a welding course, for example, or when they participate in an introductory course where they can test their skills, this can spark the interest of women to pursue full apprenticeships.”
With about 50 per cent of programs including some form of experiential learning, industry partnerships play an important role in guiding Lethbridge College’s efforts to produce career-ready graduates.
Scott Murakami, general manager at KB Heating, Plumbing and Air Conditioning Ltd. in Lethbridge, says his company’s two female team members can serve as examples of women thriving in a trades environment. “Women don’t have any advantage or disadvantage for entering careers like trades. All that’s needed are the desire and efforts to succeed,” he says. “And by participating in hands-on learning, [students] can get a sense of what the job will be like and gain the confidence that their skills are up to par.”
Approaches to enhancing women’s confidence can include job-shadowing, mentorship and role models, says Mr. Murakami. “We always showcase the success of the women working at KB Heating, including a female plumber, and hope this can impact how young women view their future career choices.”
While Lethbridge College plays a key role in welcoming diverse students, Mr. Murakami believes addressing barriers has to start earlier. Dr. Burns agrees, “Before the pandemic, we held experience and learning weeks with high school students. And we saw lots of interest from girls who were able to get a taste of hands-on learning.”
Dr. Burns adds that female leadership is also embedded in the college’s entrepreneurship program, called AgENT, where students tackle real-world challenges in areas as diverse as agriculture, renewable energy, resource management and more.
While there is room for improvement, Lethbridge College’s efforts to increase women’s participation are already bearing fruit, and Dr. Burns has observed growing enrolment numbers of women in fields like computer science and especially in environmental sciences programs such as renewable resource management and natural resource compliance.
Ms. Chamberland-Fortin welcomes this trend. “Women are more and more entering male-dominated fields,” she notes. “I am at the point where I feel very confident about who I am and what I bring to the table. I make choices for myself, and if my chosen environment is mainly dominated by men, then I’m going to push through.”
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