There are women everywhere who feel as though their career pathway is completely out of reach. The Women in Nontraditional Careers (WINC) Project is a Philadelphia regional collaboration offering resources and support for women in construction, manufacturing, and transit industries.
In the Summer of 2018, Lark Jackson led WINC in its mission to tackle the challenges of recruiting and retaining women in their professions. They created accessible opportunities to advance women Through their WINC webpage, wincproject.org, hosted by Philadelphia Works
WINC found that Women represent 3.4% of workers in the building and construction trades nationally, they are just 2 percent of bus and truck mechanics, and too few of ‘subway, streetcar, and other transportation workers’ to provide an estimate of their numbers; and while women represent 29% of all production workers in the manufacturing industry, they often occupy some of the lowest-paid positions across the sectors.
There was a demand for resources and backing for women not receiving their fair share of financial security. WINC exceeds in providing networking opportunities as well as work centers for prospective tradeswomen and industry stakeholders.
Steps in changing the narrative of the manufacturing industry being “male-dominated” shifted after collaborating with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Manufacturing Alliance (SEPMA) in Spring 2019. The focus was to develop a gender lens curriculum for their manufacturing boot camp. WINC continues to aid women with the launch of their podcast, “Today's Rosie” https://www.philaworks.org/winc/#podcast and tradeswomen gatherings inquired through wincproject@philaworks.org.
Be sure to take advantage of interactive assessment tools to determine if manufacturing, construction, or transit careers are a good fit. Whether it's a first look or resource search, FAQs on steps towards a desired tradeswomen career and links to regional and national resources are at your fingertips.
.jpg)
