Missouri is leading the charge to support women in the trades. A Department of Labor grant awarded to the Heartland Women in Trades is supporting women workers affected by gender-based bias, violence and
harassment. Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su was in Kansas City last week to attend Nov 21st National Women in Apprentice Day to help unveil their equity plan to tackle these issues and uplift women in the trades.
Over 100 attendees including tradeswomen, unions agents, contractors, labor management officers, and government officials (including Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas) came to the event to show their support, share their voices and discuss barriers and solutions to creating a diverse and inclusive workforce in construction.
HWIT Equity Plan was developed following two equity roundtables held in March and August 2024, where stakeholders from the Kansas City's skilled trades industry identified barriers faced by women in the trades, including challenges related to recruitment, retention, and harassment prevention. HWIT Equity Summit event's discussions covered outreach & recruitment practices, best practices for safe & respectful jobsite culture, and accountability in preventing and addressing worksite harassment. The day finished with holding attendees to take action and reach out to HWIT for their equity, diversity and inclusion needs.
If you want to access resources from the HWIT Equity Summit, you can go to tinyurl.com/HWIT-Summit-Resources.
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