The first time I'd heard anything about comments made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was on Newstalk 1010's The Night Side with Barb DiGiulio.
For reference, here is a section of the comments from Mr. Trudeau at the recent G20 summit as posted in an article from the National Post:
"Even big infrastructure projects, you know, might now say, well, what does a gender lens have to do with building this new highway or this new pipeline or something? Well, you know, there are gender impacts when you bring construction workers into a rural area. There are social impacts because they’re mostly male construction workers. How are you adjusting and adapting to those?"
For reference, here is a section of the comments from Mr. Trudeau at the recent G20 summit as posted in an article from the National Post:
"Even big infrastructure projects, you know, might now say, well, what does a gender lens have to do with building this new highway or this new pipeline or something? Well, you know, there are gender impacts when you bring construction workers into a rural area. There are social impacts because they’re mostly male construction workers. How are you adjusting and adapting to those?"
A lot of people are focusing specifically on the "social impacts... ...of mostly male construction workers" part in a negative light. I'd agree, it certainly doesn't sound good, does it?
The resulting public interpretation of what that comment meant spinned the narrative to that of the scary male construction workforce. It left a lot of people standing up for their fathers, husbands, sons or themselves as honest, hardworking people. Barb DiGiulio opened up the Newstalk 1010 Night Side phone lines to receive input on this topic.
And I had some input.
I started off by introducing myself as a female electrician. Because that's how we identify ourselves to the world, by our profession. To hear a group of people, connected by their careers, be associated with a negative, or as some people commented "dangerous," social impact is disturbing to me.
I explained to Barb and her listeners that I work with those male construction workers on a daily basis. As a female do I feel threatened by them? Absolutely not. As someone who was raised to check the back-seat of the car before getting in, and to face your car when gassing up so no one sneaks in, or to always be situationally aware when walking out in the world alone, would I regularly put myself in a situation where I felt my safety was at risk?
No.
Some of my staunchest supporters in breaking the gender barrier in the construction trades are those very males. Many of the people I work with are family men, bragging about their children, who look at me as another daughter or the younger guys just getting started, happy to be working and see me as a sister. Some of them just see me for me, just another electrician.
These guys become my work family. Sometimes we have to work in tight or potentially dangerous situations and must trust and rely on each other for our safety. This is not a world in which we work lightly. And because of that, dangerous is not a word I would associate with the males of the trade.
So, my input for Mr. Trudeau:
As a woman, the biggest social impact viewed through a gender lens, on a construction site for me is what the bathroom situation is going to be.
The resulting public interpretation of what that comment meant spinned the narrative to that of the scary male construction workforce. It left a lot of people standing up for their fathers, husbands, sons or themselves as honest, hardworking people. Barb DiGiulio opened up the Newstalk 1010 Night Side phone lines to receive input on this topic.
And I had some input.
I started off by introducing myself as a female electrician. Because that's how we identify ourselves to the world, by our profession. To hear a group of people, connected by their careers, be associated with a negative, or as some people commented "dangerous," social impact is disturbing to me.
I explained to Barb and her listeners that I work with those male construction workers on a daily basis. As a female do I feel threatened by them? Absolutely not. As someone who was raised to check the back-seat of the car before getting in, and to face your car when gassing up so no one sneaks in, or to always be situationally aware when walking out in the world alone, would I regularly put myself in a situation where I felt my safety was at risk?
No.
Some of my staunchest supporters in breaking the gender barrier in the construction trades are those very males. Many of the people I work with are family men, bragging about their children, who look at me as another daughter or the younger guys just getting started, happy to be working and see me as a sister. Some of them just see me for me, just another electrician.
These guys become my work family. Sometimes we have to work in tight or potentially dangerous situations and must trust and rely on each other for our safety. This is not a world in which we work lightly. And because of that, dangerous is not a word I would associate with the males of the trade.
So, my input for Mr. Trudeau:
As a woman, the biggest social impact viewed through a gender lens, on a construction site for me is what the bathroom situation is going to be.
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