07-06-10 15:34

Making it in a Man's World: Group helps women become tradeswomen (CNN, 6/3/10)

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Construction sites are still largely male-dominated. But one hard-hat wearing woman spends a lot of time hanging with the guys.
Alex Coveleski, 38, is an apprentice dock builder who is laying floors and putting up walls at ground zero. She's also a modern dancer, skills she's finding helpful with her new profession.
Women make up just 2.3 percent of construction laborers.
On any given day, Coveleski is one of only ten women working alongside 1,500 men, some of them second and third generation tradesmen trained by their fathers and grandfathers.
So why do the women do it? For the same reason as men. The pay is good, there's a really strong union and once you prove yourself, there are guys who will watch your back.
A year ago, Coveleski knew little about construction, much less dock building. That changed after a free six-week course run by the group Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW), turning women into skilled painters, plumbers, electricians, and carpenters to name a few.
Five hundred women will graduate from the program this year.
Supervisor Al Gallagher has trained lots of male apprentices. Coveleski, he says is no different.
"I wouldn't say that she brings anything different. Maybe longer hair. That's about it," says Gallagher.
Do any of the guys feel that the women are taking jobs away from them?
"I'm not here to steal anybody's job. I want to do the work if i can do it. I'm not trying to coast along on union wages, and just be like the token minority or anything. I spent many years trying to find a place in this world. And this is the closest I've come," said Coveleski.