Kamloops blogger reaching out to female tradespeople with stories to share | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Kamloops blogger reaching out to female tradespeople with stories to share

Shannon Ainslie is looking to start a blog series on women in the trades industry in Kamloops. The mother says she will be speaking with women across the city to share their experiences as tradespeople working alongside men.
Image Credit: FACEBOOK/ Shannon Ainslie

KAMLOOPS - A local blogger wants to open up a discussion about women working in the trades industry in the area.

Shannon Ainslie has worked in a male-dominated field since she was 16. She says her new blog series which is still in the early stages, will be a public platform where women of all ages, races, and backgrounds can share their insight on the good and bad things they have faced working as tradespeople. Some of the topics she would like to focus on include motherhood, childcare, wages, harassment in the workplace, menstruation and muscle mass.

Ainslie, currently one of two females working at a local fencing company in Kamloops, wants to let real stories from women take the lead and find out if trades industries are forcing women into certain roles or allowing changes to come naturally.

“I want to look to see if we are moving forward or if we are trying to push squares into round circles,” Ainslie says. “I want to have a place where people can share their ideas and talk about unsolved conflicts.”

Ainslie says she will also share stories she’s experienced firsthand. She says for a lot of women, becoming a mother means having to face judgment from potential employers.

“I’ve had recruiters tell me when I’ve been looking for jobs, ‘don’t tell them you have a kid, they’re going to think you’ll need lots of time off work to care for them,’” Ainslie says. “I think (employers) believe women are going to lose more time at work because they’re moms, and that shouldn’t be something we should be ashamed of or doesn’t allow you to get a job."

She’s looking for six different women to give perspectives.

“I think it’s really important to get perspectives from across the spectrum and have that diverse range,” she says, adding that she has been using her social media to recruit women across the city for input.

Ainslie says she also plans to reach out to the Thompson Rivers University’s trades program and Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nations. She is still in the idea stage of what type of platform to use but is leaning more towards a written blog and social media.

“I just want to air out a lot of issues women face and hopefully we will be able to make some improvements.”


To contact a reporter for this story, email Karen Edwards or call (250) 819-3723 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

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