Estimated read time: 7-8 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Mar. 26--Laid off in September from operating a fork lift at a trucking company, Robin Whitt needed to learn new skills quickly.
"I don't have three or four years to wait to make a living," said Ms. Whitt, of Walbridge, explaining why she decided against enrolling in college. Moreover, she knows several people who had earned college degrees but couldn't find professional work.
She enrolled in a 200-hour truck driving program at Owens Community College and learned to "double clutch" when shifting gears, memorized 108 parts of a truck, and overcame the sheer intimidation of managing a big rig.
Two weeks ago she passed the test for her Ohio Commercial Driver's License. She hopes to earn $40,000 to $60,000 a year and to continue building her pension.
"My CDL opens up options," said Ms. Whitt, 44.
Like Ms. Whitt, women across the country are gradually entering occupations that have hired mostly men, in order to earn a better living. The median (meaning half earn more and half earn less) weekly wage for women working full time in 2005 was $585, and for men, it was $722, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Many occupations forecast to have the largest job growth - and likely to be filled by women - are very low-paying, such as health-care aides and medical assistants, retail sales, customer service, janitors, restaurant workers, clerks, child-care workers, veterinary assistants, and landscapers, according to the Labor Department.
Better-paying occupations that are expected to grow require at least an associates degree or on-the-job training, such as nurses and other medical professionals, teachers, accountants, computer-related jobs, managers, maintenance, and construction trades.
With a two-year welding degree, Kelly Metroff uses a microscope to do precision laser welding on moldings, machining parts, and production parts. She earns about $10 an hour. "I love working with my hands. It was such a thrill to know that I could fix things and put them on the factory floor," said Ms. Metroff, 21. She's also studying for a special certification in pipe welding. "The job possibilities are endless."
Her boss, Eva Coch, employs five female trainees at DSI Laser Welding in Perrysburg. Ms. Coch, 46, understands what it's like to work in a man's world. She was an electrician for 15 years, but needed another career because of injuries to her back. Two years ago, she answered an ad in The Blade placed by a German company looking to start a precision welding franchise.
"Any time you have to change people's perceptions, it's not easy. People would say to me, 'I couldn't see my mom or my wife in this job,'" said Ms. Coch, who speaks fluent German. "Some people said, 'I didn't realize a woman could work like that.' I'd say women like me are all around us."
Both welding and electrician work are good fields for women, she said.
Kimberly Underwood expects to earn about $50,000 a year as an insulator after completing her five-year apprenticeship in January.
"I used to sell industrial piping. One of my contractors suggested I try it. They had a job at the Bayshore Power Plant." said Ms. Underwood, 45.
She's climbed 150-foot ladders at oil refineries hauling up tools on ropes, carried 100 pounds of equipment up three flights of stairs, and works outside year-round.
"This is not for every woman," said Ms. Underwood, of Maumee, who used to be a bodybuilder.
How do male co-workers react? "It has its moments," said Ms. Underwood.
Many women in male-dominated fields say they and their female coworkers have been taunted, and teased. It's essential, they say, to learn how to cope with it.
"You have to carry yourself well," Ms. Underwood said. "Some men don't mind you and some do. You have to watch it."
Lisa Downard of Rossford is a plasterer, entering the third of a four-year apprenticeship. "It's not too bad, but I know some girls who have had a really hard time," she said of treatment by male co-workers. "Don't let them push you around. They've tried to do it with me, but I get along with everybody."
After years of factory work and boredom with its repetition, she began reading about various trades and preparing for the apprenticeship test. Her younger sister is a heavy equipment operator, but Ms. Downard, 40, wanted more physicality. When she graduates, she expects to earn about $26 an hour.
"I really like doing what I'm doing. It's something different every day."
The proportion of women in skilled-trades apprentice programs has climbed a modest 5 percent locally over the last decade, said Michael Maguire, executive director of the Northwest Ohio Construction Education Center operated by the trade unions.
He's seen success by women in painting, plastering, and insulating.
Applications for painters are accepted year round, but for other jobs they are taken only at specific times. Applicants need a high school diploma or the equivalent and a driver's license. They'll take an aptitude test, an exam that's heavy on logic and math problems, and be interviewed.
After waiting tables most of her working life, Angela Moncaleano is in the first of a three-year apprenticeship to be a painter. As a child, she liked helping her father, a carpenter, with projects, so when he suggested painting, she applied. Three of the 16 people in her class are women.
Among the techniques she's learning are rolling, spraying, wallpapering and vinyl-hanging, commercial and institutional painting, drywall finishing, mudding joints, scaffolding, safety, and epoxy work.
After she completes the program, the 31-year-old mother of three expects to earn at least $24 an hour and to accrue good retirement benefits.
Nontraditional occupations for women, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, are considered to be those with less than 25 percent female representation. Some jobs that were once considered nontraditional have been dropped from the list because the numbers of women doing them have increased beyond 25 percent or, in some cases, because the Labor Department broadened the category.
In 1995, for example, 21.2 percent of judges were women; in 2005, 41.2 percent were, but that category was expanded to include magistrates and other judicial workers. In 1995, women made up 24.3 percent of the nation's physicians. By 2005, surgeons had been added to the category, of which women made up 32.3 percent.
Security guards are a fast-growing job, and women comprised 16.9 percent in 1995 and 24.7 percent last year.
More women are styling men's hair and tending to their souls. In 1995, 16.1 percent of barbers were female, compared to 19.2 percent in 2005. In 1995, women made up 11 percent of full-time clergy, and in 2005, 15.5 percent of those toiling in the Lord's vineyard were women.
A program dedicated to preparing women for apprenticeships is Hard Hatted Women in Cleveland. It has provided 450 women, most in their 30s and 40s, with pre-apprenticeship training that includes math, blueprint reading, tool usage and safety, and work on construction projects.
"We mostly serve women coming off of welfare," said Kelly Kupcak, policy initiatives coordinator for the small nonprofit organization. Most will enter jobs paying more than $11 an hour.
About 64 percent of their participants have been hired into apprenticeships for training to be heavy-equipment operators and highway workers, and in the electrical, cement, and iron worker fields, she said.
Hard Hatted Women was started in 1979 by three women - a telephone repair technician, a steel worker, and a truck driver who felt isolated in their work, said Ms. Kupcak, who is also a heavy-equipment operator.
The building trades are collaborating with Toledo Public Schools at the Toledo Construction Careers Academy at Rogers High School. In its second year, 7 of the 45 students enrolled in the academy are female, said Keith Dawson, teacher and coordinator of the four-year program. It aims to teach students about the trades, and upon graduation, they'll be prepared for apprenticeships or college.
Of 375 eighth graders who have expressed an interest in entering the academy in the fall, about a quarter are female, he said.
At Penta Career Center, the lack of girls in nontraditional programs perplexes Superintendent Fred Susor.
"We keep trying to promote women. There are terrific opportunities," he said.
As baby boomers retire, some industries are casting a wide net for a diverse workforce.
"We're trying to increase our diversity," said Kim Freely, media spokesman for CSX Transportation, one of the largest railroads in the country.
CSX has established diversity committees, and at job fairs its recruiters look for all types of people. About 5 percent of its train and engine jobs are held by women, said Ms. Freely.
CSX plans to hire 3,500 people this year, and more in the next five years, including about 2,100 conductors and train engineers, 400 to 500 mechanics to repair cars and tracks, and 700 to 800 college-degree engineers, she said. Many of the new employees will be trained by the railroad.
Contact Tahree Lane at: tlane@theblade.com or 419-724-6075.
-----
Copyright (c) 2006, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.
NYSE:CSX,
