With millions of American’s struggling to find jobs, a small yet growing number of women are going into manufacturing and welding jobs due to the competitive pay and stability of the jobs.
These female welders aren’t fazed by putting on a welding mask or forging steel. While traditionally male jobs, women are turning to them as they are higher paying, in demand skills. Anna Wild, a welder at Wyoming Machine Company in Minnesota often gets asked questions like, ‘Why would you want to weld? The way that they ask me it’s like why would you want to do that.”
Sexism still exists in plants
There are currently 27 percent of the 11.96 million manufacturing jobs in the U.S. are held by women; a slight decline from a few years ago due to the recession. The percentage of woman working in manufacturing has been between 25 percent and 35 percent in recent years.
Factory environments are changing, yet its is still a male dominate world with men trying to adjust to women in traditionally male held, physical jobs.
“I have had situations where even sales people who are selling me the equipment don’t want to talk to me about equipment because they don’t believe that I can talk to them about the mechanics of that machine,” stated Traci Tapani said, who with her sister is the owner of Wyoming Machine.
“As we expanded, our customers are also manufacturers, and several of the companies we do business with have had women in their purchasing role for a long time,” said Lori Tapani. “So it has been a gradual change.”
New Programs Target Young Females for Manufacturing
Manufacturing jobs requiring highly skilled workers often go unfilled due a lack of applicants, the manufacturing industry is stepping up its efforts to attract women. There are recreational camps and school training programs that are giving both boys and girls exposure to manufacturing. This is changing how girls see manufacturing, and opening up their minds to new career opportunities.
