What It's Like to Be a Woman in the Trades

Every job has its challenges and difficult days. But if you’re a person of a marginalized gender in your workplace, those difficult days may happeneveryday. We are in an era often referred to as “post-#MeToo,” which implies that women have now achieved equality in the workplace and freedom from harassment, even though there is still a long way to go. We often hear about how male-dominated work cultures negatively impact women.

No industry is more complex when it comes to the discrimination that women face than that of trade jobs, most of which are historically composed of primarily men. Ahead, we’ll examine what it’s like to be a woman in the trades, from how the gender balance of the industry is changing to how women are speaking up more than ever before about the unfair treatment they receive.

What Is a Trade Job?

First, it’s important to understand exactly what types of jobs we’re talking about here. Trade jobs are careers that are relatively high-paying but do not require a college degree. Instead, you complete a training program, which can be done at a career college, a junior college, or an institution that focuses only on one industry. Some trades involve a certificate only, and others include licensing as well.

There are many different jobs that fall into the trade industry. The job titles for trade positions include construction worker, plumber, electrician, cook, chef, medical technician, dental and medical assistant, hairstylist, esthetician, carpenter, landscaper, painter, locksmith, mechanic, medic, fabricator, and phlebotomist.

The Amount of Women in Trade Jobs

When you think of an electrician or a locksmith, chances are you picture a man. That’s because historically, men have dominated the trade fields. However, the amount of women in trade jobs is growing, and it experienced a nearly 18% rise between the years 2017 and 2018 for women in construction jobs alone.There are currently 1.1 million women in the country working in construction, which equals 11% of the total construction workforce.

In some trade industries, women don’t even comprise a single percentage of the workforce. These sectors include coal mining, pottery manufacturing, and agricultural chemical manufacturing. And there are many additional categories of trades in which the percentage of women is reflected in single digits.

On the other side of the trade spectrum, women account for 91.4% of beauty salon employees, 86% of home health care providers, and more than 46% of pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing.

Both salon services and home health care involve caring directly for other people, which is stereotypically considered more “feminine” work and the type of jobs women were once relegated to as the only career option. Women remain in far smaller percentages of the areas of trades we associate with men.

Gender Schema Theory and Roles in Culture

The Public Face of Workplace Discrimination

Challenges of Being a Woman in the Trades

There are many steps from a tough workday to a lawsuit, but if you’ve heard much from women working in trade industries, that journey likely seems a bit shorter. That’s because male-dominated trade fields can involve frequent, and unacceptable, discrimination.

Leger entered the field as legitimately as any man, tellingWorkwear Guruthat “Growing up, I liked building little houses or forts out of materials I just found around me. I took several shop classes in high school and had a great teacher that encouraged me to join a trade. After high school, I started working for a small remodeling company as a helper and found a passion for tiling.”

“I have been sexually harassed, threatened, physically challenged, underpaid, given the chum jobs, and so on from those men who never respected me no matter what the level of my work was or my title,” Pence adds. “Most men my generation or older would not take any direction from me whatsoever.”

Kalina Pence, pastry chefI’ve always been met with criticism, doubt, and met with this macho mentality of ‘You can’t do this type of work,’ ‘Let’s see how long this girl lasts.’

Kalina Pence, pastry chef

I’ve always been met with criticism, doubt, and met with this macho mentality of ‘You can’t do this type of work,’ ‘Let’s see how long this girl lasts.’

How Does Implicit Bias Influence Behavior?

How Times Are—And Aren’t—Changing

While we have a very long way to go to reach equality on this most basic of fronts, progressively, more women are moving into trade jobs. For example, as of March 2022, there are 220,000 more women working in transportation and warehousing than there were in February 2020.Other fields are seeing increases, too, and these larger numbers of women in trades give more voice to the needs for workplace equality.

Lawsuits, such as the2018 gender discrimination suit against Nikeorunequal pay, are growing more common as a means to change wages.

In terms of on-the-job discrimination, the more women who call out the ways they’re treated unfairly on public forums, the more the public becomes aware of them. But there are still enormous shifts in policy needed, and these workers alone cannot be expected to be able to implement the changes needed.

While we may refer to our country as a post-#MeToo society, the reality is that we are still deeply entrenched in men’s workplace misbehavior. The more we speak up, the better our chances of creating change.

If you have been discriminated against in your workplace, you have the power to take action. Knowing your rights is the first step. You arefederally protectedfrom workplace discrimination, and resources are available.

4 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Institute for Women’s Policy Research.Women gain jobs in construction trades but remain underrepresented in the field.

US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.Eeoc releases fiscal year 2020 enforcement and litigation data.

Institute for Women’s Policy Research.Women make gains in men-dominated jobs, but still lag behind in COVID-19 recovery.

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