cwit

so i met a woman today at chicago women in trades who made 76.50 an hour. she was a structural ironworker and seriously made me think i was an the wrong line of work! i always was kind of feeling the ornamental ironwork thing...i mean, i know structural is different...she's currently working on a cantilever at o'hare airport. but still! anyway, i was at CWIT as a part of 4 summits that they do for the young women in our construction programs who are thinking about following through with apprencticeships post-secondary education. it was so inspiring to be around this group of people. when i was in high school i kept thinking i wanted to be a carpenter (those of you who have seen my model making skills will get a good laugh outta that one!) but there wasn't really anyone who could point me in the right direction to seriously pursue that. i look at these girls and they have so many options. really good ones too. i met one woman who, besides being hot (!!) was a kick butt bricklayer! she said, hey, i get paid a LOT of money to get a tan and work out! i never thought of it that way! the great thing was the diversity in tradeswomen there. they were short, tall, brown, white, thin, thick, femme and not so femme...they represented laborers, brick layers, electricians, pipe fitters and iron workers to name a few. what a meaningful thing for these girls to see that they can be whoever they are and still pursue a career in construction.

i was really bummed though that there were only 3 of 7 schools represented in attendance. it made me wonder whether the shop teachers who blew it off did so because it was women centered....talk about unacceptable.