Women in nontraditional careers

Funding is requested to help women maximize their earning potential.

Sponsored by Rep. Joe Mullery (DFL-Mpls), HF743 would appropriate an unspecified amount of money for “grants to nonprofit organizations for programs that encourage and assist women to enter nontraditional careers in the trades and manual and technical occupations.”

Mullery told the House Higher Education and Work Force Development Policy and Finance Division that $500,000 would be a good amount. The bill, which has no Senate companion, was held over Feb. 27 by the division for possible inclusion in its omnibus bill.

“This was originally introduced about 10 years ago, and it has been funded in the past, although it hasn’t been funded in the past few years,” he said.

Statistics provided by the Office on the Economic Status of Women, a joint legislative advisory commission, show the number of women in nontraditional roles remains low, but projected vacancies continues to rise. For example, nearly 4,000 plumber, pipefitter and steamfitter openings are expected between 2004 and 2014, but according to 2000 census, women made up just 1.1 percent of workers in an area where the median hourly wage was $29.53 in the last quarter of 2007.

“This is a workforce issue,” said Amy Brenengen, the office director. “The bill is not only important because it addresses opportunities for women, but also because there is a growing need in these areas.”

To receive a grant, an organization would need to be active in reaching out to girls and women concerning opportunities and training programs in the trades, science, math, technology and engineering areas. An organization would also be eligible if it offers assistance with training, child care or transportation issues, job placement assistance or job retention support.

“We have an awful lot of people that are on welfare-type programs or in low-occupation jobs that would greatly benefit from this,” Mullery said. He also referenced a woman who had been heavily into drugs and had her children taken away. “She got into a program like this, and she’s now back making probably more than anybody in the room. … There’s huge numbers of success stories like this.”