Sask. women are breaking barriers in male-dominated trades

Miss Rodeo Agribition 2023 has always been passionate about horsemanship and barrel racing, but Ari Dyck also felt a spark the first time she picked up a welding torch.

She took welding in Grade 9 and found she really enjoyed it.

"The welding instructor told me, 'Hey, you're really good at this, take it in Grade 10,'" she said.

"Turns out I got that welding bug. It bit me and now I've made a career out of it, because I justI loved it and I didn't see myself doing anything else."

Dyckwent right into welding right out of high schooland hasn't looked back. She said she loves the attention to detail required in the job.

"I'm a very precise person. I like things to be perfect," she said.

"I like to explore new techniques and you really have to make sure you have good fusion. You have to make sure everything is set up correctly."

WATCH | Here's Miss Rodeo's career advice for young girls:

Miss Rodeo is a welder. Here's her career advice for young girls

1 day ago

Duration 3:41

Ari Dyck became the first Miss Rodeo crowned at the Canadian Western Agribition. As a welder by trade, she tells young girls to follow their hearts and pursue careers in trades if that's their passion.

Statistics Canada data from 2022 says women made up only 5.9 per cent of workers in Saskatchewan in the category of "trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupations."

Dyck said a lot of people, especially older people, are surprised when they find out she is a welder.

"I like that it surprises people because it catches them off guard and then they're just flooded with questions for me," said Dyck. "I love answering questions. It's part of being a rodeo queen as well. You get asked questions all the time, but it's nice because it's a good conversation starter as well."

When she was crowned Miss Rodeo Argibition, Dyck spoke a lot about women in trades.She said a lot of younger women have approached her since then about how they can get into a trade.

She said she tells them to go out and apply to companies if they have experience, or apply to trades programs to getneeded experience. She also lets them know there are scholarshipsand support they can apply for.

"Don't let negative comments or the negative impacts of people affect you. It's your own life. No one else leads it but you. If you want to go into a trade, no matter what trade it is, do it," she said.

"It's better to love doing your job and love what you're doing than not. And you're going to be happier doing what you love to do."

'I didn't realize it was an option': carpenter

When Summer Wynne was young she never saw women working in the trades, so never thought that one day she would be working as a carpenter and scaffolder.

"I had never considered it," she said. "My father was a tradesman and basically that was what my perception of the trades was, and women belonged in the office.

"I didn't realize it was an option for [women]."

Blue Sky47:18What's preventing more women from working in male-dominated trades?

Welding, carpentry, plumbing.There is a need for workers in all of these fields. Right now, construction and manufacturing jobs are very male dominated.In fact, fewer than 7 per cent of these jobs in Saskatchewan are currently held by women.Today we talked to women who work in the trades about what drew them to the profession and what's preventing more women from choosing these careers.

Before getting into the trades,Wynne worked in customer serviceand sales.

"I wasn't really getting ahead and I wasn't feeling fulfilled," she said.

"When I finally got an opportunity to take some construction training, I caught on pretty quickly and it was a lot of fun."

She said she makes better money nowand is happy with her career change.She's in the carpentersunion, travels a lot for work, meets a lot of new people and learns a lot of new skills.

Wynne said her advice for other women thinking of entering the trades is to keep all your receipts, but also, "keep trying new things, and if it doesn't work for you, there's plenty of other ways to get it done."