Apprentices Speak Out- The Experiences of Five Women in a Skilled Trade

The last few decades of the twentieth century were a period of tremendouschange in organized labor and apprenticeship programs in the United States.Going into the twenty-first century skilled trade union apprenticeship programsare in a change coping with decline in union membership andpressure to open their ranks to under represented groups. Insuring inclusionof women and minorities in registered apprenticeship has been an acknowledgedproblem among policy makers. Failure to improve meaningfulrepresentative access in apprenticeship programs particularly to women wascause for the author to perform research study. The research study was toinvestigate the experiences of five women who entered into a skilled tradeapprenticeship program that has been predominantly male oriented. The investigationexamined three components of the apprenticeship program:application and entry on-the-job training and working relationships with thejourney person. The significance of the study was to identify:- What barriersdo women describe as restrictive to becoming an accomplished apprentice ina skilled trades program?- Do women experience discrimination as an apprentice?-Do women experience inappropriate sexual bias as an apprentice?-What are the expectations of women entering into an apprenticeship? Thebook targets women educators and business and industry to recognize thebarriers women experience in a skilled trade apprenticeship program. It alsoprovides the need for future research.