'Jill of All Trades' event at Fanshawe encourages young women to pursue careers in skilled trades
Fanshawe College in London has joined a movement to attract young women to the traditionally male dominated skilled trades, and tackle a growing labour shortage at the same time.
The school hosted its first ever ‘Jill of All Trades’ event, introducing high school aged young women to skilled trades, including carpentry, automotive, electrical, and plumbing.
“I love working with my hands, I love being creative, I love building. It’s just, I love every aspect of it,” said Paige Vancleeff, a grade 12 student at John Paul II Catholic Secondary School in London. She was one of about 90 young women from high schools across the region to take part in the event.
The goal is to get young women interested in pursuing careers in jobs in which there are still gender-based barriers, said Stephen Patterson, Fanshawe College’s dean of the Faculty of Science, Trades, and Technology.
Female high school students take part in an electrical workshop at the ‘Jill of All Trades’ event at Fanshawe College in London, Ont. on Oct. 5, 2023. (Bryan Bicknell/CTV News London) “Well there’s so many barriers that you’d probably realize, but the strongest one is self-efficacy and the belief that they can do this. And of course they can, as well as anyone,” he said.
Fanshawe College post-grad student Paige Askew is one of the event’s instructors. She said she advises students to practice perseverance -- even when they fail the first time at something.
“The trades are a lot like sports,” she explained. “You mess up- work on doing better. You’re going to mess up every day. They key is making it a puzzle and having fun with the mess up.”
According to Patterson, there are 63,000 skilled trades positions open in Ontario right now. He added that doesn’t count the upcoming retirements that are going to create even more positions.
“Well if you can imagine trying to solve a labour shortage in the trades by only having half of the population with only 10 per cent engaged. That’s the case for females in Ontario. So if you can imagine, if we can incent these young women to know their potential we’re going to solve a lot of problems and a lot of shortages in our regions, and that’s super important,” he said.
As for the aspiring carpenter, Paige Vancleeff, she said her next stop is college, then an apprenticeship to get the training she needs to build the homes of the future.
“My first activity of the day is carpentry, and that’s what I plan to do with the rest of my life, so I’m very excited for that,” she said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.7014877.1724706014!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
Liberal cabinet has 'tremendous confidence' in Prime Minister Trudeau despite polling
Members of the Liberal government cabinet say they have 'tremendous confidence' in Prime Minister Trudeau despite polling numbers and questions surrounding his leadership.
Woman found dead in suspected femicide in Ottawa's west end
A 47-year-old woman is dead after a suspected femicide inside a home in Ottawa's west end on Sunday evening.
'Buyers are firmly in the driver's seat': It's a good time to buy a cottage in Canada, experts say
As the weather cools down across Canada, so too is the cottage market, with real estate experts saying now is the time to purchase that cottage you've had your eyes on.
Immigration minister says upcoming changes to permanent resident levels 'not cosmetic,' but 'significant'
Immigration Minister Marc Miller says the federal government is 'looking at a number of options' to re-evaluate permanent resident levels in Canada and says any upcoming changes will not be 'cosmetic' but 'significant.'
B.C. man sentenced for 'callous' indignity to remains of young man found dead in 2016
A B.C. man acted with a "chilling sense of calm" when he took "deliberate steps to conceal and dispose of" the body of a young man he met online nearly eight years ago, according to a provincial court judge.
Fraudsters posing as Amazon employees scam Gatineau, Que. victim for $12,000
A Gatineau, Que. resident has fallen victim to a phone scam that resulted in the loss of $12,000, but TD Bank has declined to reimburse the funds.
Mariah Carey's mother and sister died on the same day. The singer says her 'heart is broken'
Mariah Carey's mother Patricia and sister Alison both died on the same day, the singer said Monday.
Percentage of Canadians working from home keeps dropping: StatCan
The proportion of Canadians working from home has been falling for the past three years, according to a new report. Statistics Canada says 18.7 per cent of employees worked from home in 2024, down from 24.3 per cent in 2021.
Judge orders Martin Shkreli to turn over all copies of unreleased Wu-Tang Clan album
Martin Shkreli, once dubbed 'Pharma Bro' for boosting the price of a life-saving drug, was ordered by a federal judge Monday to turn over all copies of Wu-Tang Clan's unreleased 'Once Upon a Time in Shaolin' album to his lawyers by Friday.