Page B3
August 15, 2007
Equality Begins with Female Body
Learning self-
confidence
through training
by R aymond R endleman
T he P ortland O bserver
“Pile more of them on!” demanded
a young woman whose shoulder al­
ready had a large stack of boards that
the group was about to turn into a
fence.
With the help of a former Olympian
athlete, current students of nonprofit
Oregon Tradeswomen Inc.’s Trades
and Apprenticeship Career Class are
not only mentally preparing for a ca­
reer in construction, but are physically
able to go to work.
“They’re all really sore afterward,
but they love it,” says Katie Hughes, a
youth-programming specialist for the
organization.
Onlookers at the recent fence con­
struction site on Northeast Seventh
Avenue got a chance to see the extra
sweat that women must endure to
become craftspeople.
In an effort to be better prepared
for an industry that pays women an
average of 79 cents on the dollar paid
to men, 19 women attending the state-
certified pre-apprenticeship program
received 10 hours of physical-fitness
and strength training in the gym, in
addition to the usual hands-on power-
tool training, classroom instruction and
field trips to local jobsites.
The strength-training component,
taught by Stephanie Fisher, focused
on upper-body strength, which Or­
egon Tradeswomen considers a key
to success on construction sites.
“The gym is not just about strength—
it’s about confidence on the job. W e're
sending our women out strong and
ready for work. Fitness is an essential
part of our curriculum,” said Dawn
Jones, an instructor for the program.
photo by R aymond R endleman /T he P ortland O bserver
An Oregon Tradeswomen class gathers for a fence-building job on Northeast 7th and Failing Street. The local organization, with headquarters at Northeast
1 7th and Alberta Street, trains women entering the construction workforce.
The free seven-week program of­
fered six times a year is designed to
help women find highly skilled, high-
wage careers in the building trades.
Students receive 30 hours of profes­
sional instruction involving classroom
time to learn about construction-mea­
surement techniques and fieldtrip time
for hands-on residential or commer­
cial experience at training sites like the
one recently set up in northeast.
Oregon Tradeswomen has seen
statewide improvement for women in
the construction industry since it be­
[ B ank oe the W est
gan activism during the 1980s.
“In the trades nationally, three per­
cent of the people on the jobsite are
women, but in Oregon it’s 10 percent,
and we’d like to think that we have
something todo with it,” says Hughes.
The public is invited to an informa­
tional potluck Saturday, August 18 at
Wilshire Park, Northeast 33rd and
Skidmore, running approximately from
11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Other information sessions for
continued
on page H7
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