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New Faces on the Site

Challenging, well-paying construction jobs are drawing more female workers to the industry. Parents, teachers need to do more to promote careers in skilled trades to girls.

As an industrial lift carries her high above the intersection of King and Sherbourne Streets, Diane Gibb's nerves are as steely as the infrastructure of the cond construction project she's inspecting.

Her job as a health and safety inspector for Toddglen Construction takes her to dizzying heights as she tours projects such as Camrost-Felcorp's King's Court. Fortunately, she's not a vertigo sufferer.

Gibb is among the increasing number of women who are finding stimulating, well-paying jobs in the construction industry.

The Oshawa native, who grew up dreaming of playing in the National Hockey League, thrives on watching buildings take form from the ground up. Her job requires her to don a hard hat and meet on-site with workers to discuss safety issues and concerns, as well as to educate them about the latest laws and bylaws.

As a member of the safety group of the Ontario General Contractors Association, Gibb is also involved in setting out and writing standards for site-safety objectives.

Those objectives might involve spelling out electrical hazards such as faulty cords, or ensuring that site superintendents are trained to recognize and assess hazards.

"When I realized it would be impossible for me to play in the NHL, I decided to be a welder instead. But when I went on a high school placement to learn how to weld, it just wasn't for me," says Gibb.

She opted instead to work in offices doing secretarial and administrative work. While Gibb was employed by an architectural firm, she became intrigued with how buildings were constructed.

Just over four years ago, she joined Toddglen as an office administrator. From there, she's moved into health and safety and divides her time between the office and build site.

"I find the site superintendents are usually very receptive to what I have to say and realize I'm there to help them," says Gibb, 33. "Some of the trades don't know who I am at first and they'll say 'What's a woman know about construction?' It's a matter of communicating and I find the more I'm on site, the more receptive they are to my suggestions."

Gibb says women may associate construction with hard physical labour, but they should be aware that there's a whole range of careers in the industry with different requirements.

"My job is definitely challenging and rewarding," she says. "When I think of women I know in construction, I know some who are architects or engineers and a friend of mine is a project manager who started in the office. There are others who work with condo buyers to co-ordinate finishes for the suites. There are well-paying jobs and you don't necessarily have to go into a construction job that's physically demanding."

Women were a scarce commodity in the industry when licensed carpenter Jill Rydall, 39, started working in the field 21 years ago in Northern Ontario.

"I didn't intend to become a carpenter, but my dad was a contractor and taught me how to use tools. I dropped out of high school days after starting Grade 13. I tried waitressing, but that only lasted 2 1/2 weeks. Then an opportunity came my way to work with a cabinetmaker," she says. "I recognized that could lead me to a career and after a year and a half in that job my mother coaxed my father to hire me."

Rydall became the first woman in the Sault Ste. Marie carpenters' union. By the time she was 24, she was teaching carpentry courses at Canadore College in North Bay.

"I always taught 99 per cent men, most of them older than me," Rydall says. "I did have a cabinet-making program that had four women in 10 years. When I started in construction, there were no other women in the industry at all in Northern Ontario."

Today, Rydall is lead instructor at the Skills Development and Training Centre, located at the Bay Area Learning Centre in Burlington, which offers a variety of programs, including some specifically geared to women. The centre is an entrepreneurial, not-for-profit organization affiliated with The Halton District School Board. (The centre holds monthly information sessions. For information, click on www.thecentre.on.ca or call Pam Hicks at 905-333-3499 ext. 121).

"For me, this job is the combination of my two loves: being a carpenter - following in my dad's footsteps, and teaching, experiencing the reward of seeing a student I taught succeed," says Rydall.

The centre's second New Home Service Technician program equips women with skills such as basic framing, drywall repair, painting, ceramic tile installation and trimming when they complete the 46-week course. The program combines in-class time with on-the-job training and paid placements with partner companies such as Glenbarra Construction, Monarch, Sundial and Reid's Heritage Homes and their sub-trades. Other partners include The Residential Construction Council of Central Ontario (RESCON), the Government of Ontario and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. The Company of Women, a networking group of female entrepreneurs, raised funds to offer a scholarship to buy tools for three participants.

The women will also have the opportunity to continue their training to become qualified as electricians or cabinetmakers, for example.

"The way we train, by involving the industry, helps tremendously," Rydall says. "It's a real team effort between industry, federal and provincial governments and the Halton School Board. The builders like taking someone who has basic skills and moulding them to fit their own needs."

The first program, held more than a year ago, started with 20 students; 17 graduated and 15 found jobs in the construction industry. There are 17 students in the current program who have just spent 18 weeks in the classroom and are beginning unpaid on-the-job training, which will last through December. Paid placements run from December to April.

Rydall says there was a waiting list of more than 100 women for the current program. The average student is in her late 20s to mid-30s, with the oldest being in her 50s and the youngest 19.

"Probably the biggest misconception about women in construction is they don't think they can actually do it," says Rydall. "When they actually try it and see how skilled they are, their confidence builds and they develop a sense of pride. Once you give women a set of tools and let them go at it, they're wild!"

Bowmanville High School is providing a similar opportunity for teens of both genders through the Gold Collar program it offers in partnership with Kaitlin Homes.

Since 2001, groups of 15 students have spent one semester at Kaitlin's Port of Newcastle development, gaining hands-on experience. There's a portable classroom on-site and the trades share their expertise with the students. The teens also get to do some framing, under supervision.

"We're all for this program, as it will help the industry," says Richard Biffis, vice-president of construction for the Kaitlin Group.

"The construction industry is hurting because of the shortage of skilled trades. We hired one student from the program as a labourer and a few of them have gone on to learn plumbing and electrical trades."

Only five females have participated in the program since it began three years ago, but one is now apprenticing to become a mason, says Don Clubine, the tech teacher at Bowmanville High who co-ordinates the program.

Clubine is also a carpenter who worked in the construction industry for 14 years, and still does during summer.

"I'd like to see more girls do this. I think a lot of it has to do with our culture and I'm not sure that we as parents have done a good job promoting construction as a viable career choice for women. We're more apt to steer them towards something like fashion," says Clubine. "I'm a firm believer that women can do as well as any man at any of the technical trades. And there's good money to be made in construction."

Stephen Dupuis, executive vice-president of the Greater Toronto Home Builders' Association, agrees.

"There's plenty of interest and opportunity for women to enjoy careers in the homebuilding industry at the skilled trades level, right on up to the executive ranks," says Dupuis.

"We've certainly witnessed tremendous interest in training programs geared to women and the systemic challenge is to offer more such programs."

However, says Dupuis, the other big challenge is overcoming the myths and negative attitudes that linger towards careers in the skilled trades on the part of young people. Even more important is making sure parents and educators are also dispelling those myths.

The Toronto Star - Saturday, September 18, 2004, Page N1
Reprinted with permission. – Torstar Syndication Services