Women's Trade Group Hosting Construction Career Workshop
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A support group is trying to encourage more Chicago women to become this generation's Rosie The Riveter.
The group, Chicago Women in Trades, was scheduled to host an open house on Wednesday to demonstrate the advantages of a career in the construction industry.
Meredith Thetford said the program convinced her to become a pipefitter.
"Women comprise only 3 percent of the blue-collar side of the construction industry. And we feel that a lot of women just don't go into it because they don't know really how to get into it, and the details and that they can do it," she said.
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Thetford said the stereotype that construction workers are big and burly holds some women back, while they might think nothing of going into nursing, for example.
"You might be moving people, moving bodies, doing the same sort of weight requirements. But, nobody says, 'You know what, if you have a high school diploma or GED, you can enter into one of these union apprenticeship programs and make really good money,'" she said.
Thetford said, for women struggling to support their families, the trades can be lucrative; paying anywhere from an average of $17 an hour for a starting apprentice to nearly $50 for an experienced worker.
