Nontraditional Employment for Women

• What it is and why it works
• Approaches
• State and federal legislation
• Resources pertaining to this strategy

What it is and Why it Works

Nontraditional employment for women is one high-wage option that can enable families to move out of poverty. Nontraditional Occupations (NTOs) are jobs that are often thought of as "men's jobs." According to the U.S. Department of Labor, they include any occupation in which less than 25 percent of the workforce is female.

Increasing women's access to nontraditional jobs is a compelling strategy for family economic self-sufficiency for several reasons. Most importantly, compared to jobs that are traditional for women, nontraditional jobs can provide better wages and benefits than the traditionally female jobs. Unfortunately, most female job training participants and welfare clients are steered towards traditionally female occupations. The additional earnings associated with NTOs significantly improve the ability of women to take care of their families. Nontraditional jobs also frequently have greater career and training opportunities, and many women find greater job satisfaction that can result in longer-term employment. In addition, hiring women in nontraditional jobs is good for business and produces positive results for employers.

• Recognizing the significant benefits of nontraditional employment for low-income women and their families, many women's community-based organizations began to offer nontraditional training 20 years ago. Their efforts were assisted by affirmative actions guidelines for employers and apprenticeship programs that opened the construction trades, in particular, to women.
• While most community-based nontraditional employment programs were successful, few of the strategies used to train and place women in higher-wage, nontraditional jobs were institutionalized into the mainstream job training and vocational education systems.
• Institutionalizing nontraditional employment focuses the workforce development and welfare systems on what they should be doing-moving families out of poverty by training women for self-sufficiency wage jobs with a future.

Approaches

• Building on its local nontraditional prevocational training and basic skills program, the DC State Organizing Project developed a comprehensive skills training program to train women in the commercial and residential construction industry in the District of Columbia. Construction is one of the employment sectors that have been identified as a growth sector for the region.

  Additionally, WOW developed the Workplace Solutions web site an online national clearinghouse of information and networks of nontraditional employment training providers to give technical assistance to employers, unions and apprenticeship programs seeking to recruit, train and retain women in NTOs. Similarly, WOW's Work4Women web site and its online community networks provide tools, strategies and peer networking opportunities to support women seeking nontraditional employment information and access. Work4Women also offers advice to women working in NTOs about how to remain on the job and advance in their careers. Finally, workforce development professionals working on behalf of women and girls can use Work4Women to connect women and girls to training opportunities, resources and support networks across the nation.

  Contact Camille Inez, Wider Opportunities for Women, (202) 638-3143 or cinez@wowonline.org.

• In San Jose, CA Californians for Family Economic Self-Sufficiency initiated a nontraditional employment for women orientation and referral program for welfare recipients. The program was the result of sectoral employment intervention and analysis by the National Economic Development and Law Center that found a need for a program that could inform women about nontraditional training programs and employment opportunities in the booming construction industry. A similar program has been developed for Santa Cruz County. In both programs, close relationships with the local trade unions and county agencies and the creation of countywide advisory committees have been critical. Contact Doris Ng, Equal Rights Advocates, (415) 621-0672 or dng@equalrights.org.