Women can fix the skilled-trades gap

If you take a look at the shop floor of a typical Canadian manufacturing company, you will see many similarities.

Machines are likely grouped together in a fashion designed to save space and promote smooth work flow; material is placed on racking or bundled neatly on the floor; and somebody somewhere is having a laugh, usually at the expense of the latest hire.

You’ll see workers of different educational backgrounds and from different geographic regions of the world working together. What you see very few of, however, is women.

The last week of September marked the inaugural Gender Equality Week in Canada. It’s an initiative designed to celebrate the progress we’ve made in this area, while at the same time promoting the fact that work still needs to be done.

The manufacturing sector is one of those markets in the “work still needs to be done” group.

According to a recent Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME) report, Canadian women account for 47.5 per cent of the entire labour force in Canada, but represent only 28 per cent of the manufacturing workforce. Even more relevant is the fact that this percentage has remained virtually unchanged for the last 15 years.

The Canadian Women’s Foundation, according to a survey, has noted that the biggest barrier to gender equality across the board is the omnipresent pay gap. It must be stated, though, that the second-biggest barrier to improving gender inequality comes from the 32 per cent of respondents who do not believe gender inequality exists.

This alone shows that education is needed.

Attracting more women to the industry will help cushion the blow that is coming when the current aging workforce retires. It also will help inject traditionally male-dominated manufacturing companies with a different point of view.

Others are doing it; so can manufacturing.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, an organization with a longer drought than the Sahara Desert, recently hired Hayley Wickenheiser and Noelle Needham to their staff, recognizing that greatness is not reliant upon gender.

In the NBA, the San Antonio Spurs coach recently promoted Becky Hammon to his roster of assistant coaches.

If these two billion-dollar organizations can shake off years of prejudice, so can your shop.