Women in the Trades

"You can learn anything from YouTube. Seriously, I had no experience and certainly no formal training in 90% of the projects I did in my house. I just approached this massive project with a "can do" and "I'll figure it out" mindset! I formed the vision in my mind, researched the best products and tools to use, watched helpful videos on YouTube and got it done! What I really learned is that the trades take someone who enjoys creative problem solving, because every single situation is a bit different, which is what makes it fun to me! And, I was so reassured with my dad's blessing when I came up with an idea (sometimes before I executed it, but mostly after) and he said "that'll work!" My father can fix ANYTHING and I learned that most of the time, there isn't a perfect answer - you just literally make it work. I call it "creative carpentry."

I firmly believe that women absolutely can learn how to do any of the trades and we are just as capable as men with serious strengths like multi-tasking, attention to detail, and tidiness that makes us damn good! And yet, less than 5% of "tradesmen" are women. There will be 3 MILLION jobs open in the trades by 2025. Do you think it's hard to find a plumber now? Just wait! The average starting salary in skilled trades is over $50,000, higher than most entry-level college graduate positions. Nearly half of the 2020 college graduates are either unemployed or underemployed and the statistic isn't much better for 2021. What's worse, is these college graduates have tens of thousands of dollars in debt, no job, and most, not a clue what they want to do.

We need to encourage more young people, particularly women, to consider the trades instead of college if they don't have a plan and aren't prepared to be "college-bound" for more than just the social experience. We need to change our societal expectation that kids have to go to college to be successful AND that parents must raise their children to go to college in order to be deemed successful as a parent. And high schools need to be measured in more ways than their college admission rates."