Opportunities for Women in Non-Traditional Employment Sustaining Equitable Pathways for Women into Nontraditional Occupations

You’ve raised awareness of gender equity issues, Built the capacity of your team to add a gender lens to job training for the green economy, What’s the next step to sustain and grow investments to assure women’s equal participation? Let’s distill the best practices for embedding gender equity into job training What resources, tools and policy are necessary within the workforce system to keep closing the gender wage gap.

How did adding a gender lens change your program?  Our program/workforce partnership's capacity to attract and serve women has grown significantly  We have set a goal of women applicants, participants, graduates and placements  Our outreach and recruitment materials/plans are designed to target women.  Our program allows for all prospective clients to receive career exploration activities.  Our career counselors are trained to promote nontraditional jobs to women.  Our staff's gained understanding of the impact of gender wage inequity and gender segregation of the labor market

Benefits of Adding a Gender Lens Was there a benefit - internal/external - you found with adding a gender lens too your program? ARTWORK: J. Howard Miller

Did Your Industry Partners Recognize and Value the Benefits of Women’s Participation in their Sector?

What barriers did you encounter when adding a gender lens to your program? Lack of awareness within the vocational education/WIA system? Limited preparatory training of female candidates? Impact of micro-inequities? Impact of subtle biases and lack of understanding? Gaining staff buy in? Industry resistance? Other?

What programmatic elements did you have to revise or add to your program to be more gender inclusive? Outreach Career Awareness Intake and Assessment Case Management/Work Readiness Curriculum Instructional Practices Job Placement and Retention

Outreach and Career Awareness How did you go out of your way to bring in female applicants? Did you make new connections to activities, institutions and organizations serving women? Did your outreach activities change? What worked best to attract women to your program?

Images and Words are Powerful Describe how the messages you used to reach women were developed. What were some of the gender related myths or misconceptions you had to address with clients, staff, industry partners? Did you find you needed to change your assessment and intake process to be more inclusive of women?

Case Management and Core Competencies for Work Readiness - Did you add elements to your program to address:  Self-Esteem  Rights in the workplace  Developing support systems  Building Physical Fitness: Strength training, Agility, Stamina  Balancing Work/ Family  Workplace culture  Ergonomics, PPE, Sanitary Facilities

Adding a Gender Lens to Your Program: Did you Add Practices in the Classroom to Offer:  Exposure to the various occupations and career pathways  Test-taking anxiety reduction strategies and practice  Spatial and mechanical aptitude exposure and practice  Technical skill practice opportunities  Strategies for surviving and thriving in a male-dominated environment

Adding a Gender Lens to Your Program: Practices in the Classroom – New/Additions to Curriculum? Combating Discrimination and Sexual Harassment Prevention Building Successful Communication and Interviewing Skills Health and Safety of Women in Nontraditional Jobs Cultural Competency

Adding a Gender Lens to Your Program: Policy in the Classroom and at the Institutional Level Promote and enforce civil rights and sexual harassment policies and practices. Engage a diverse teaching and support staff. Gender inclusive, neutral and sensitive teaching practices and HR policy Professional development activities helped training program staff examine their own beliefs and actions about women in the nontraditional workforce Did you add/create any new policy to improve gender equity and inclusivity?

Adding a Gender Lens to Your Program: Did you Change or Add Policy in the Classroom and at the Institutional Level? Students were able to receive the extra time and support they need to gain proficiency. Our staff examined assumptions about dominant culture and privilege Examples of underrepresented groups are evident in materials and throughout the training facility. We facilitated informal support groups, mentoring, and peer counseling and networking activities. Individuals from underrepresented groups weren’t isolated

Adding a Gender Lens to Placement : When Being A Good Candidate May Not Be Enough – What Tools Aided Placement and Retention? EEO/AA tools: Title VII – 1964 Civil Rights Act: Executive Order 11246: Affirmative Action in Federal Construction Contracting BAT EEO in Apprenticeship Regulations Community Benefit Agreements and Project Labor Agreements Monitoring and Supporting OJT Creating Equitable Workplace Environments Work/family supports Cultural competency for supervisory and frontline workers

Next Steps for Sustainability Did focusing on a gender lens impact other programs or external relationships? What was your definition of success of adding a gender lens? What support do you need to sustain the gender lens? How can gender equity be better promoted in the workforce development system – nationally, locally?

Conduct regular reviews of Your Program’s Current Policy, Practices and Cultural Competency Incorporate Gender Goals and Activities into Strategic Planning Set Incremental Goals with Targets and Benchmarks Monitor Progress and Report Outcomes Be an Advocate for Women with Industry Stakeholders and Policymakers Next Steps for Sustainability

Next Steps Outline several steps that your team will take: ________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Do you have recommendations for policymakers or industry stakeholders? ________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________

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