Do it Like a Dude. Presenting 13 women who Are thriving in male dominated fields
According to Statistics Canada (2019 & 2021), women's labour force participation rose substantially throughout the country over the last several decades. Although this increase has contributed to more women entering male-dominated occupations, they continue to be underrepresented within the skilled trades and STEM fields. The pandemic has also exacerbated the gender gap in employment, as 10 times more women than men fell out from the labour force since 2020 (RBC Economics, 2021).
In Numbers...
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Beyond their presence among the workforce, women still face many challenges pertaining to systemic discrimination in the workplace. In 2021, full-time working women were still making 89 cents for every dollar a man would make (Statistics Canada, 2022). In 2020, 1 woman out of 4 have also reported to have experienced sexual misconduct in their workplace (Statistics Canada, 2021).
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About this photo essay...
Despite concerning statistics, there is no denying that women have come a long way since they won the right to vote in Quebec. This portrait series features 13 women who are leaving their mark in male-dominated careers in the Montreal region. While they are the living proof that barriers have been falling over the past decades, their testimonies also highlight how far we still have to go in our progress towards gender equity.
"But you're so small! You look so young!"
– Alexandra Gentile, 30, paramedic.
Alexandra Gentile has been working at Dessercom since 2019. She says the organization has practically reached gender parity, and that all of her colleagues are very accepting of women in the workplace. If discrimination still exists in the paramedics field, it is mainly reflected in the comments she tends to receive from patients who worry about her not being able to put them on a stretcher due to her small stature. Over the years, however, the profession has evolved to automate tools, thus making the work less physically straining. According to Gentile, this may have encouraged more women to join the profession by eliminating their concern about being physically unfit for the job.
Gentile believes women bring an added value to the profession, especially when it comes to providing care to pregnant patients as they might find women paramedics more nurturing and reassuring than their male counterparts.
“That’s what it’s like to be a woman in metal; you have to watch yourself.”
– Ariane Martel, 25, lead singer of a metal band.
Since she became the lead singer of the metal band Vrylnia in 2016, Ariane Martel has had to face all kinds of situations, including dealing with members of the public screaming "show me your boobs!" at her or coming close to being assaulted after her first show. Once, a critique also said that her band would be better if it included a man's voice as it would add something "stronger" to their sound.
90% of the shows Vrylnia did since their debut have been part of "female-front" events which put forward women in metal. Although Martel wishes the band could make a breakthrough in a broader context, these kinds of events provide her with something she sees as a safe space. For the singer, who salutes the solidarity that's already present within the community, these initiatives are a first step towards a more inclusive metal following.
"You get used to it... But you still have to stand up for yourself."
– Joséphine Tran, 45, working in IT/finance.
As product owner at TMX, Joséphine Tran holds a position that places her in a threefold situation of minority in IT, finance and management. At the Montreal office, she is the only woman out of four employees who share the same title, and it is not uncommon for her to stand alone among twenty or so men during managers' meetings. She says TMX is aiming for parity but that the company rarely receives candidatures from women. According to her, this reflects the enduring reality that there are still very few women who decide to pursue this type of career after graduating from computer science and finance programs.
Tran emphasized that she has never been personally discriminated against in her field of study and in her career. She said that there had been some bad jokes, but that she is not one to get easily offended.
“It's not unusual to have four white helmets watching me to make sure I'm doing my job.”
– Mélissa Bourque, 30, shovel operator.
Since she started working on the construction site of the old Board of Trade building, Mélissa Bourque only crossed path with two other women out of approximatively 60 to 70 workers. After two years working as a shovel operator, she can say that her experience as a woman in construction has been very positive although she often feels like she is being watched a bit too closely by foremen. Still, she says her colleages treat her well, sometimes even better than others, because she is a woman.
With wage rates being set for each trade and occupation, there is no wage gap between men and women who work under the Commission de la construction du Québec. However, Bourque says employment discrimination is still very present, with some companies and clients that are still reluctant to hire women contractors.
"I'm not one of the boys."
– Stéphanie Tardivel, 24, firefighter.
Young girls aren't encouraged to become firefighters, but having strong women as role models has paved the way for Stéphanie Tardivel.
Tardivel has been a firefighter at the Rawdon fire station since 2021. She is currently the only woman firefighter among the 18 firefighters who are employed by the station. She says her colleagues have always treated her as an equal although there are some things they are careful not to do around her... There is also a running gag between her and her colleagues about her being "one of the boys", but even though she is part of the group, she will never deny who she is as a woman just to fit in. As long as she is "doing the job", no one cares about her being a woman: she's given the same tasks as any other firefighter.
Apart from the fact that the public still has the reflex to call her 'sir' (she usually blames it on the suit!), Tardivel has never received negative comments with respect to her being a woman firefighter. In fact, most people tend to be pleasantly suprised when they realise that there was a woman hiding under that helmet all along.
“I know I got lucky, with the people I’ve met and the friends I’ve made… I never really felt like a woman in this field.”
– Rose Hirigoyen, 25, software developer
No one in her profession has made Rose Hirigoyen feel "less than" as a woman, even though she is aware that this represents a challenge that many other women within the industry have to face on a daily basis. From the moment she started studying sofware engineering at Polytechnique Montréal until today, her experience has always been positive. She's also had the chance to be surrounded by great role models: her former master's degree supervisor, her manager and her manager's boss were all women.
By contrast, Hirigoyen's close friend, who was in the same program and frequented the same circles, had a completely different experience and went as far as to question her career choice. This made Rose appreciate her "luck" even more.
Before she started working as a developer at Unity in June 2022, she used to be bothered by the idea that she could be hired to fill a diversity quota rather than for her skills. Now that she became more confident in her abilities, Rose embraces the fact that her employer seems to care about diversity in the workplace. She says women now make for about 25% of Unity employees.
“My experience as a woman in this job? It's a lot of mansplaining and being told sexually explicit jokes.”
– Justine Lévesque, 39, Rides Maintenance Manager.
Justine Lévesque is Rides Maintenance Manager at LaRonde since 2018. She is the only woman to hold this position in all 27 Six Flags parks. She manages a team of 70 people, only two of which are women, and most of her employees are mechanics and welders age 45 to 65. Her experience as woman in a position of authority over what she calls "gentlemen of another generation" has been riddled with stereotypes including cheesy pick-up lines, inappropriate comments, and questioning of her competence.
Lévesque used to brush off sexist jokes with humour, but she says that she is no longer afraid to stand up for herself. Now, she doesn't shy away from pushing her employees to reflect on their behaviour: "We're in 2022! Would you say that kind of things to your own daughter?"
When I got my diploma, a teacher told me ‘Honestly, I didn’t think you would make it’.”
– Séverine Ladéroute, 26, plumber.
Séverine Ladéroute started working as a plumber when she was 19 years old. Even though she can laugh about it now, her first experience with employers (all men) who would get inappropriately drunk during company meetings set up at strip clubs had left her with a bad impression of what being a woman in plumbing could be.
Three years later, in 2018, she got a job at Plomberie REN-GA, a small plumbing company of now three employees. According to Ladéroute's employer, hiring a woman completely changed the work dynamic and improved the way they do things.
Throughout her career, Ladéroute had better experiences working with men from the older generation who would often act as her mentors, while younger colleagues would be the ones to engage in inappropriate behaviours. As plumbing is one of the fields that employs the fewest women among the construction sector, clients are always suprised when they are reminded that female plumbers exist. Ladéroute has also received positive feedback from Muslim women and sexual abuse victims who find it more reassuring to have a woman plumber come into their home.
A double penalty: “No one likes referees. If you are a woman, people like you even less.”
– Marie-Pierre Jalbert, 30, hockey referee
Marie-Pierre Jalbert works full time as a hight school math teacher, but she has been a hockey referee in the Programme provincial féminin des officielles élites (PPFOE) since 2007. Even though her career aspirations have changed over time, she says that women cannot make a living in this field, quite simply because there are not enough women's hockey games.
The American Hockey League (AHL) is the highest level reached for women referees in pro-hockey. There are only 10 women who are currently working as men's hockey officials.
Women in Jalbert's field still experience discrimination in the form of wage gap and a lack of opportunities. Although this doesn't happen anymore since she built a name for herself in the hockey business, Jalbert used to get nasty comments from parents and coaches when she first started. While this is the reality of being a referee, she believes such behaviours were exacerbated because she is a woman.
“For me, the automotive industry was a man’s world… Seeing that there was diversity is what led me to apply here.”
– Christina Nulli, 35, car sales representative.
Hyundai Longueuil has a team of seven sales representative that includes four women. Christina Nulli became one of them when she was hired in 2017 for her extensive experience in customer service despite having no prior experience in the car industry.
When asked about the importance of gender parity at the dealership, she said it had always been in the owner's mentality. This idea has been well received by clients, and women buyers often find relief in being advised by female sales representatives, according to Nulli. In five years, only two clients (men) have explicity asked to speak to a male sales representative.
After working in the restaurant business for a few years, Nulli was looking for a new challenge. She went into the car industry without giving it much thought, but she admits that she probably would not have given it a try if the dealership hadn't been so receptive to the women's cause.
“I made it, but I couldn’t fake it. It took a long time before I was able to come to terms with myself.”
– Nancy Wittmacher, 47, working in the trucking industry.
It took some time for Nancy Wittmacher to feel confident in her position as a truck driving instructor. Although she only became driver training coordinator for Groupe Robert in 2021, she had been in the trucking industry and working for this company since 1994. Today, as she continues to train the next generation of drivers, about a meager 15 applicants out of 250 are women.
When talking about her experience as a woman in this profession, she assured us that things go perfectly well 98% of the time when she is teaching or training future drivers. "The number of instances where I have been on the receiving end of derogatory comments or sexual remarks can be counted on one hand," she said.
Still, she often gets "tested" by men who apply to become truck drivers. They usually back off once she shows them that she knows what she is doing. "Are you the one driving?!" or "Are you sure you can even reach the pedals?!" (she is 5 foot 1) are also things that she is used to hear a woman truck driver.
“It's not about waiting for the older generation to leave. We need newsrooms to expand.”
– Josie Desmarais, 35, photojournalist.
Josie Desmarais has been a press photographer since 2016, and has been working for La Presse since November 2022. La Presse currently employs 11 photojournalists, only two of which are women. As a professional, she never personally experienced gender-based discrimination. She is one of the lucky few photojournalists who are hired full-time by a newspaper.
In journalism, we often talk about facade diversity. We see more and more women journalists, but they are not the ones calling the shots. Desmarais strongly believes that making more space for women in newsrooms could be the solution to the problem.
Freelancing opportunities are not enough to make equal opprtunities for women in the photojournalism field. Surely, the lifestyle is not made for women or anyone who wants to have a family life. In news organizations, however, women and visible minorities are last in, first out, Desmarais said. It is a vicious circle that ensures that men continue to make up the vast majority among photojournalists who have stable jobs and income.
“Women are ninjas… You need to be twice as resilient when you are a woman and a visible minority.”
– Maria-José de Frias, chef and restaurateur.
Maria-José de Frias is the chef and co-owner of the African gastronomy restaurant, Le Virunga since 2016. It is with an extensive background in entrepreneurship that de Frias opened her first restaurant after having been professionally trained in cooking at the Collège Lasalle.
There are two men and two women currently working in her kitchen (including herself), but she said there was a time where she could only hire women and visible minorities because Caucasian males would not - and would sometimes openly refuse to - work for her. Her daughter Zoya, who co-owns Le Virunga, also had a very hard time getting fundings to open their restaurant. They faced many challenges even when applying for grants that support immigrants and people of colour, and lost a diversity funding to a Polish restaurant owner who happened to be a man.
Since the pandemic and the murdering of George Floyd, the media have shown an increased interest for black-owned businesses such as Le Virunga, de Frias said. She's grateful that her restaurant was able to take off as a result, but she sincerely hopes that it won't take another crisis or uprising for the media spotlight to return to visible minority-led initiatives.
Credits:
Mélanie Lussier, Concordia University, 2022