BADASS BABE - Why We Need Rosie

Why We Need Rosie

I’m sure the majority of us are familiar with the iconic image of Rosie the Riveter, this image is synonymous with Women in thetrades and has become an image of women empowerment over the years. The 1943 propaganda poster created by J. Howard Millar was intended to encourage women to join the work force in order to fill the void created when men went off to war. In the aircraft industry alone, more than 310,000 women took on nontraditional roles, making up around 65% of the aircraft industry in the USA in 1943. A lot of women said they enjoyed the work and found it to be fulfilling and rewarding, a few women even had the opportunity to stay in the roles they had taken on during the war, and its these women that paved the way for the girls like me who wanted to enter the trades from a young age.

When I was a young girl I was fascinated by machines and how things worked. I liked using my hands to create things, and I liked taking things apart and trying to figure out how to put them back together. I had a hard time sitting idle for too long and I didn’t do well with the traditional way of schooling and instruction. I knew that an office type job would not be the right fit for me. So, when signing up for high school I decided it would be best to go to a school that offered some kind of skilled trade, even though the closest one was a 45min bus ride away. At that time there were quite a few high schools that offered trade programs, whether it be for automotive, welding, construction or hair stylist. Currently a lot of these schools are abandoning their trade programs, which is making it difficult for individuals who are interested in learning a trade at a young age, but also making it hard for businesses to find people who are interested in working in a skilled trade. This could also be the reason for the resurgence of Rosie in the last little while, and maybe it’s just me, but her influence and likeness have been gaining some momentum lately.

At the moment Canada is in a skilled labor shortage, meaning they just can’t find people to fill the jobs in various trades like welding, electrical, construction and mechanics. Statistics show the average age for a journey person (someone certified to do a specific trade) is 57, and according to Stats Canada the average age of retirement is between 63 and 65. So, in another 10 years around 25% of the skilled certified laborers in the trades will need to be replaced by someone, why not women again? Currently women make up about half of the work force, but only around 5% of those women are in skilled trades, that 5% also includes female dominant trades like hairstyling and aesthetics. Which is why we need Rosie again. Rosie helped to show women that they could do it, they could work along side men in factories and production shops doing the jobs traditionally carried out by men. Today we see more and more women entering nontraditional roles in the work place, but taking that step into a male dominant trade can be intimidating. I know when I got into the Auto Body trade about 18 years ago it was a challenge. Some things have changed since then, but some things remain the same. For instance, it’s really hard to ‘get your foot in the door’ or even be considered for the job. Interestingly enough, I am hearing that in the Auto Body trade more and more employers are seeing value in hiring female staff. What kind of value you ask, well it turns out women can more commonly see variations in color than men because of the cones and rods inside of our eyes which perceive color, which is why we are seeing more and more female painters in the trade. I am also getting feed back saying women tend to have a great eye for detail and can offer a different perspective than that of their male counter parts, which can be extremely helpful in problem solving scenarios which we deal with every day in the body shop. Another interesting thing I noticed going through the trade was that I had more opportunity to learning from some of the more seasoned veterans in the shop than some of my male co-workers, for no other reason than the simple fact they didn’t feel threatened by me. I think there is something to be said about competitiveness with in the same sex whether it be male to male or female to female, and considering my lack of testosterone, I believe this helped me to tap into information that wasn’t available to some of my male coworkers. Now this wasn’t always the case, sometimes people in the shop were not very receptive to a female being there. It took them a while to get used to the fact that I actually wanted to be there, and had hand skills that were capable of preforming the same tasks as them. It took a lot of hard work and me going over and above my job description to prove to some of them that I had what it took to make it in the trade.

Now I know some of you may be thinking that that isn’t fair and that’s a whole lot of BS, but the way I look at it is, by doing all that extra work (that I wasn’t always paid for), and by staying late to learn or hone my skills, not only did it help me to be accepted by my co workers but it helped to elevate the work ethic of the shop as a whole. By my showing everyone how hard I was willing to work to be there, and showing how much passion I had, I truly believe it helped to remind some of my coworkers why they themselves got into the trade. Nowadays I am happy to hear that more women are beginning to feel accepted in the trades and they feel encouraged by their male counterparts to learn and grow in their field. Now don’t get me wrong, there are still some hurdles women are going to have to overcome, and there are still some misconceptions about women being able to do work that has been otherwise fulfilled by men over the years, but I feel like we are on our way to closing the gender gap in the trades.

One of the major misconceptions of the trades as a whole is that it is dirty, hard work reserved for those of us without ‘academic aptitude’. There is a whole lot I could say about that, but in order to keep this article PG rated all I will say is that, that mind set is the furthest thing from the truth you can get. In order to be a trades person you need to have an incredibly creative mind, you need to be able to process technical information quickly and apply what you see on paper to something that is tangible. The trades are critical in the development of a country and its going to take some hard working, creative and passionate people to fill those roles in order to prevent a labor shortage. Being a trades person has been the most rewarding experience of my life, everyday I feel like I’m making a difference. Its hard work and there are days I come home exhausted, but I come home with a sense of purpose and fulfillment. But more importantly I am showing my daughter that with hard work and passion you can make a difference in the world while enjoying what you do.

I like to think that the strength and perseverance of the trail blazers from yesteryear have been the spark to light the torches of the strong beautiful women of our trades today. If it wasn’t for their hard work and persistence we wouldn’t see the diversity in the trades we see today, and after almost two decades in the Auto Body trade I am starting to see the change happen. As a woman in the trades I feel that it is important for me to help encourage other women to seek out their dreams and not put limitations on themselves, try something different be bold and don’t let anything hold you back from doing what you are passionate about. And if you want to get into a trade there are women out there to help support you in your journey. There are programs like WITT (Women In Trades and Technology), empower, women building futures and countless other women trade programs that can help you on your path to being a trades person.