Women In Welding

Women In Welding

Women in a blue-collar world, beating stereotypes. With women only taking up 5-10% of classroom spaces in the program they make their presence known. 

Welding Instructor Rebecca Achor said, “I feel like there used to be a stereotype for women but now it’s a lot different. There is not one particular type of woman that is coming in, it used to be a more tomboy type of woman who would get into the field but I see plenty of girls now who do their makeup and nails but still want to weld.”

In the US, women only take up about 6.1% of welding jobs while men take up the other 93.9%. At LBCC the number of women in the welding program is small but growing.

Working in a trade with men can bring on some dirty jokes and playful games but what do the women enjoy most about about this career?

 

Welding student Kaylin Coffey said, “There’s so much I enjoy about welding, but mostly I love the creative aspect of it. The work I do at my job and school feels extremely rewarding. Being in fabrication feeds creativity and challenges my cognitive abilities.”

Welding student Macy Freeman said, “I find welding so relaxing, I also love building things. I learn with my hands so just being able to understand what I’m doing is amazing.”       

In a predominantly male career, it may be hard to express the more feminine side of oneself. On the podcast “The Way I Heard It” by Mike Rowe, Chloe Hudson, a female welder said, “It’s not so much this righteous preservation of femininity, the thing about it is I was always both.”  

Achor said, “I for sure feel like there are things women do better. Women have way more of a steady hand in their quality of weld and the way the weld looks is usually better than men. They also have better attention to detail so when it comes to fit up and fabrication of things women tend to have work that is more accurate and precise.”

What is it that discourages women from going into this field? Is it the hard work, heavy equipment, and machinery or is this career just not as promoted to women of today?

Welding instructor Cameron Moran said,  “A stereotype is they aren’t going to work as hard as men, it's a dirty trade so they're not going to want to work in it.”

Moran added, “Women's graduation rate here is almost 100% because they are committed to finishing as well as proving a point because they are confident and proud to be in a trade that is generally men and that's pretty awesome to see.”

Since the 1940s figures such as “Rosie the Riveter,” “Winnie the Welder” and “Susie the Steelworker”  have shown the world that when women put their minds to it they can take a stand and tackle the work that is thrown at them. During World War II, when men went to war the wives, mothers, and daughters had to become their own type of soldier by making battleships, aircrafts, and much more.

After the war when men took their jobs back, the effort and the support women made was forgotten but their story has lived on in the work women do today.

(Photos courtesy of Brenda Autry)

At A Glance:

What: Women in welding

More information on the program: https://www.linnbenton.edu/educational-options/applied-industrial-tech-and-transportation/welding/