Sexual harassment runs rampant in skilled trades, YWCA study finds

A new report on the skilled trades in Nova Scotia describes workplaces rife with sexual and gender-based harassment, which its authors say is driving women away and contributing to a significant labour shortage.

The YWCA Halifax surveyed 101 women and gender-diverse tradespeople last year, and more than 90 per cent of them reported being harassed at work at least once in their career.

The harassers were almost always men, and they often held positions of power in the workplace, according to the report released Friday.

The findings are no surprise to Kat Williams, an apprentice carpenter who is working toward her Red Seal.

Verbal harassment from male colleagues, she said, has been a common experience in her ten years on construction sites.

‘They thought it was funny, but I did not’

“Like, ‘hey sweetie,’ or someone hitting on me, or just saying something sexually inappropriate, joking with me in a really sexually inappropriate way … they thought it was funny, but I did not,” Williams said in an interview.

Among the people surveyed by the YWCA, 68 per cent reported being the target of sexually suggestive comments or jokes. It was one of the most common forms of harassment described in the report, after insults based on gender or sex, and followed by inappropriate staring or leering.

One person — who, like all respondents, is cited anonymously in the report — said they were “treated like a piece of meat even by supervisors and people in the training room.” Another said the harassment was “just constant,” and another said they would be afraid to have their own child work in the skilled trades.

Low rate of reporting

Only a quarter of respondents said they reported their most recent experience of harassment and, of those, more than half were “not at all satisfied” with the way the company handled the report.

Williams said she has often felt that she couldn’t speak up in her own defence or ask for help, because her harassers were “superiors and employers, people who were in charge of signing my paycheques.”

She said she once told the superintendent of a jobsite about a male colleague who was harassing her and another woman, and felt her concerns were dismissed.

“[The superintendent] just laughed at it. They’re like, ‘Oh he’s just like that with women.… We all know it, he’s an asshole.’

“There was nowhere for me to go,” she said. “And so I thought, OK, that’s just how it is.”

Harassment driving women away

Williams said she puts up with the behaviour because she loves doing carpentry, but she’s thought of leaving the trade many times.

“I’ve seen a therapist outside of work consistently for years. I’ve sought support through friends and family as best as possible. I’ve tried to find supportive work environments, supportive mentors, and I have found a couple of those throughout my journey.”

Stephanie Gill, who coordinated the YWCA’s investigation, said the rate of women in the trades has been “stalled for years,” despite efforts by the government and industry to increase gender parity.

The YWCA says 7.8 per cent of skilled tradespeople are women.

“We’re hypothesizing that one of the key reasons why women and gender-diverse people are leaving the skilled trades is because of the high levels of sexual and gender-based harassment,” said Gill.

Gill said there are two major problems that follow. One is that women and gender-diverse people are being cut off from well-paying and reliable jobs. The other is that the industry is missing an opportunity to fill holes in the workforce.

Labour shortage

Nova Scotia is projecting a shortfall of 11,000 tradespeople by 2030. As a first step in addressing that, it’s looking for 5,000 people to become apprentices in the next three years. 

Labour Minister Jill Balser said her department has an “extreme focus” on recruitment and retention in the skilled trades and she knows addressing sexual harassment needs to be part of that work.

“It’s such an important conversation that we need to be having, and for those to voice their concerns, to share their stories, that’s how change happens,” Balser said in an interview.

“This report is going to help enable change,” she said.

The report recommends that the provincial government amend the occupational health and safety act to include sexual harassment.

Balser said her department was already looking into such a change, and she is awaiting a report from staff before making a decision.

The YWCA also recommends that the province create a third-party sexualized violence response team for the skilled trades, and that it help employers and unions educate employees about sexual harassment. Balser said her department is considering those recommendations.

Gill said the government and industry leaders have been receptive to the YWCA’s findings and recommendations. She is now looking for an ongoing commitment to addressing sexual harassment, as it could take “many years” to shift the culture.